Abstract
Pollinator decline worldwide is well-documented; globally, chemical pesticides (especially the class of pesticides known as<br>neonicotinoids) have been implicated in hymenopteran decline, but the mechanics and drivers of population trends and<br>dynamics of wild bees is poorly understood. Declines and shifts in community composition of bumble bees (Bombus spp.)<br>have been documented in North America and Europe, with a suite of lethal and sub-lethal effects of pesticides on bumble bee<br>populations documented. We employ a mathematical model parameterized with values taken from the literature that uses<br>differential equations to track bumble bee populations through time in order to attain a better understanding of toxicant<br>effects on a developing colony of bumble bees. We use a delay differential equation (DDE) model, which requires fewer<br>parameter estimations than agent-based models while affording us the ability to explicitly describe the effect of larval<br>incub
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 237-245 |
Journal | Default journal |
State | Published - Apr 1 2020 |