Modelling the interplay between inadvertent social information use and a pesticide induced foraging bias in bumblebees' crop visitation

Abstract

Understanding the drivers of patch visitation in agricultural landscapes is essential for maintaining pollinator-mediated agroecosystem services, yet the extent to which behavioural mechanisms influence pollinators visitation rates has received little attention. Using an individual-based modelling framework (BEE-STEWARD), I examined how inadvertent social information (ISI) use and a recently documented pesticide-induced foraging bias influence nectar and pollen visitation rates of buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) to crop patches located near or far from the colonies. Simulations showed that ISI use primarily increased nectar visitation to all crop patches and pollen visitation to nearby crop patches, whereas foraging bias increased pollen visitation to all crop patches and nectar visitation to nearby crop patches. However, the two behavioural parameters had no interactive effects on crop visitation rates during nectar or pollen foraging. Despite the pronounced shifts in visitation patterns, total resource collection and colony demographics, including colony growth and reproductive output, remained largely unaffected. Overall, results indicate that ISI use and foraging biases are important drivers of spatial foraging patterns in bumblebees. Incorporating such behavioural pathways into pollinator foraging models may improve predictions of spatial visitation patterns and resource exploitation across agricultural landscapes, with potential implications for pesticide risk assessments.