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A 3D Printed Pollen Trap for Bumble Bee Bombus Hive Entrances

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Published on: July 9, 2020

Pollen Foraging by Bumble Bee Queens During a Critical Nesting Period Revealed by DNA Metabarcoding.

Kelsey Schoenemann¹, Haw Chuan Lim², Mia M Keady³

¹Department of Environmental Sciences University of Virginia Charlottesville Virginia USA.

Ecology and Evolution

|December 24, 2025

Summary

Bumble bee queens flexibly forage on available flowers during early spring, with plant availability, not species, driving their pollen choices. This highlights the need for diverse floral resources to support vulnerable queen bees.

Keywords:

Bombus foraging gyne metabarcoding pollen queen

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Entomology
Conservation Biology

Background:

The nest-founding stage is critical and vulnerable for bumble bee (Bombus) queens.
Limited contemporary data exists on early spring floral resources utilized by bumble bee queens.
Understanding queen foraging is vital for bumble bee conservation and management.

Purpose of the Study:

To characterize the floral species used by bumble bee queens for pollen provisions during early nest establishment.
To investigate factors influencing pollen selection, including plant abundance, land cover, and season.
To compare the effectiveness of DNA metabarcoding markers (ITS2 and rbcL) for pollen analysis.

Main Methods:

Pollen loads were collected from over 100 wild bumble bee queens in Virginia, USA.
Next-generation sequencing and DNA metabarcoding of plant barcodes (ITS2 and rbcL) were used to identify pollen taxa.
Analysis correlated pollen composition with land cover, season, and bumble bee species.

Main Results:

Pollen loads included diverse native and non-native woody, herbaceous, and vine taxa.
Non-native Lamium and Elaeagnus were frequently utilized, partly due to their abundance.
Pollen composition varied more with season than with site or bumble bee species; crop land cover influenced Lamium presence.

Conclusions:

Bumble bee queens are flexible foragers, adapting their diet based on resource availability and phenology.
Plant phenology, rather than bumble bee species identity, primarily drives pollen use in early spring.
Metabarcoding techniques provide valuable insights into bumble bee diets, informing conservation and management strategies.