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Bumble bee communities exhibit delayed recovery following severe drought in rangeland

Published Article

North Dakota, United States

Publication date: April 1, 2026

File format: URL

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Rangelands support essential bumble bee pollinators, yet their vulnerability to drought is poorly understood. Following an extreme 2021 drought in North Dakota, this study documents a 98% drop in bumble bee abundance and a multi‑year lag in population and community recovery, even as environmental conditions improved.

Subject Tags

  • Climate risks
  • Biodiversity
  • Climate resilience

Abstract

Rangelands offer resources that support bumble bees (Bombus spp. [Hymenoptera: Apidae]), which are essential pollinators in agricultural and natural ecosystems. However, relatively little is known on how bumble bee communities respond to and recover from drought within rangeland ecosystems. Our study site in North Dakota experienced an extreme drought in 2021, and we investigated the influences of this drought on bumble bee populations over time. Bumble bee abundance was 98% lower during the drought year compared to the pre-drought year. Abundance increased between 2022 and 2024, but all 3 post-drought years were still lower than the pre-drought year. The average temperatures during the current and previous year’s growing seasons were most strongly associated with abundance patterns. Community composition differed between the pre- and post-drought periods with 3 species identified as pre-drought indicator species. Although we observed increased floral abundance, normal average temperatures, and non-drought PDSI index values in the first-year post-drought, the bumble bee community experienced a lag effect in abundance and species composition recovery. Our research supports the idea that bumble bee communities can be particularly vulnerable to drought, and their recovery can take multiple years, even when conditions quickly return to normal. We found that species with relatively high pre-drought abundance seemed to recover the quickest following the drought, but more research is needed to understand what makes bumble bee species particularly sensitive or resilient. Information like this can help develop management decisions that protect bumble bee communities as droughts become more frequent and severe in the future.

Citation

Roberton, B., Duquette, C., Harmon, J., Kral-O’Brien, K., Hovick, T., Fogarty, D., ... & Sedivec, K. (2026). Bumble bee communities exhibit delayed recovery following severe drought in rangeland. Environmental Entomology, 55(2), nvag028.

TNC Authors