Scientific Papers on bumblebees

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Barrow, D. A. and Pickard, R. S. (1984). Size-related selection of food plants by bumblebees. Ecological Entomology. 9:369-373.
A study of British bumblebees showing that there is a positive correlation between tongue length and corolla length of flowers visited.

Beekman, M and Van Stratum, P. (2000). Does the diapause experience of bumblebee queens Bombus terrestris affect colony characteristics? Ecological Entomology. 25:1-6.
This paper shows that queens that do not hibernate tend to produce fewer workers and more sexuals than queens that do go through hibernation.

Bourke, A. F. G. and Ratnieks, F. L. W. (2000). Kin-selected conflict in the bumble-bee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society London B, 286: 347-355.

Brian, A.D. (1951). Brood development in Bombus agrorum (Hym., Bombidae). Entomologist's Monthy Magazine. 87: 207-212.

Brian, A. D. (1952). Division of labour and foraging in Bombus agrorum Fabricius. Journal of Animal Ecology. 21(2) : 223-240.

Brian, A. D. (1957). Differences in the flowers visited by four species of bumble-bees and their causes. Journal of animal ecology. 26:71-98
An old paper but well worth reading, there are few modern papers and books on bumblebee ecology that do not quote this paper.

Goulson, D., Hawson, S. A., and Stout, J. C. (1998). Foraging bumblebees avoid flowers already visited by conspecifics or by other bumblebee species. Animal Behaviour. 55:199-206

Goulson, D. and Stout, J. C. (2001). Homing ability of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Apidologie. 32:105-111

Goulson, D. Hanley, M. E., Darvill, B, Ellis, J. S. (2006). Biotope associations and the decline of bumblebees (Bombus spp.). Journal of Insect Conservation 10: 95-103.

Heinrich, B. (1976). The foraging specializations of individual bumblebees. Ecological Monographs. 46:105-128
A very interesting paper about the flower visits of individual bees in Maine.

Heinrich, B. (1976). Resource partitioning among some eusocial insects: Bumblebees. Ecology. 57:874-889.
A paper about bumblebees in Maine, the flowers they gathered nectar from, and how this is all related to tongue length.

Molet, M., Chittaka, L. Raine, N. E. (2009). How floral odours are learned inside the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) nest. Naturwissenschaften. 96:213-219.

Molet, M., Chittaka, L. Raine, N. E. (2009). Potential application of the bumblebee foraging recruitment pheromone for commercial greenhouse pollination. Apidologie 40 608 - 616.

Raine, N. E. & Chittka, L. : Flower Constancy and Memory Dynamics in Bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus). Entomol Gener 29(2-4):179-199; Stuugart 2007-01.

Raine, N. E. & Chittka, L. (2005) Colour preferences in relation to the foraging performance and fitness of the Bumblebee Bombus terrestris. UludagBee Journal, Vol 5, Issue 4, pp145-150.

Rodd, F. H., R. C. Plowright, & R. E. Owen. (1980). Mortality-rates of adult bumblebee workers (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 58: 1718-1721.

Williams, C.S. (1995) Conserving Europe's bees: why all the buzz. Trends in ecology and evolution. 10: 309-310.
A concise paper on the plight of European bees, the general lack of interest in the subject, and why we ought to be interested before it's too late.

Willmer, P. G., Bataw, A. A. M. and Hughes, J. P. (1994). The superiority of bumblebees to honeybees as pollinators: insect visits to raspberry flowers. Ecological Entomology. 19: 271-284.
This was the first paper on bumblebees I ever read, it led me to re-read Prys-Jones, then I was well and truly hooked.