DOI: 10.5061/dryad.70rxwdc70
title: Data from: Wild foundress queen bumble bees make numerous, short foraging trips and exhibit frequent nest failure: Insights from trap-nesting and RFID tracking

description: The overwhelming majority of research on wild bumble bees has focused on
 the social colony stage. Nest-founding queens in the early season are
 difficult to study because incipient nests are challenging to find in the
 wild, and the foundress queen's flight period is very short relative
 to the entire nesting period. As a result, natural history information on
 foundress queens is exceedingly rare. New methodological approaches are
 needed to adequately study this elusive life stage. We trap-nested wild
 queen bumble bees in artificial nest boxes in Gothic, Colorado, and used a
 custom-built radio frequency identification (RFID) system to continuously
 record queen foraging activity (inferred from entering and exiting the
 nest) for the majority of their spring flight periods. Foundress queens
 made frequent, short foraging trips, which tended to increase in duration
 over the course of the flight period. All queens who produced adult
 workers ceased foraging within approximately one week after workers
 emerged in the nest. We observed frequent nest failure among foundress
 queens: fewer than one quarter of queens who laid eggs in nest boxes went
 on to produce reproductive gynes at the end of the season. We also report
 nest characteristics and curious phenomena we observed, including
 conspecific nest invasion and queens remaining outside the nest overnight.
 We present this trap-nesting and subsequent RFID tracking method as a
 valuable, albeit resource-intensive, path forward for uncovering new
 information about the elusive, incipient life stage of wild bumble bees.
description: See manuscript for detailed methods.
description: # Insights into wild foundress queen bumble bees: developing and piloting
 a trap-nesting and radio frequency identification (RFID) system
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.70rxwdc70](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.70rxwdc70) ## Description of the data and file structure RFID tracking and nest monitoring of wild foundress queen bumble bees. Throughout the data, empty cells and na values indicate that no data was collected. ### Files and variables #### File: cleaning_and_analyses.Rmd **Description:** script file for all data cleaning, processing, analyses, and visualization  #### File: queenStage.csv **Description:** final stage at which queens were observed ##### Variables * queen: unique nestbox identifier * Stage: final stage at which the nestbox was observed prior to queen death/absconsion #### File: 2021_cocoons.csv **Description:** cocoon widths for all nests in 2021 ##### Variables * nestID: unique nestbox identifier * width_mm: width in mm of cocoon * status: whether the cocoon was empty or closed (i.e., contained a dead pupa) * species: species of bumble bee in the nestbox * date: date recorded #### File: 2022_cocoons.csv **Description:** cocoon widths for all nests in 2022 ##### Variables * nestID: unique nestbox identifier * coccon_width_mm: width in mm of cocoon * date: date recorded * initials_measurer: initials of observer * notes: relevant notes #### File: 2021_nestboxes.csv **Description:** raw data on nestbox locations in 2021 ##### Variables * nestID: unique nestbox identifier * usedThisYear: whether or not a queen was observed in the nestbox in 2021 * boxType: the name of the person who made the box * holePosition: where the entrance hole was on the box * nHoles: number of holes on the box * waterSheet: whether or not the box had a clear plastic water sheet on top * nubbin: whether or not the box contained a clay ball * insulation: type of insulation the box was filled with * rfidAttach: whether or not the RFID box was attached to the outside of the box * position: location of the nestbox (strapped to a tree or on the ground) * siteType: macrohabitat in which the box was placed * Edge: whether the box was within 3 meters of the edge of that habitat * substrate: general description of the ground substrate below the box #### File: 2022_nestboxes.csv **Description:** raw data on nestbox locations in 2022 ##### Variables * nestID: unique nestbox identifier * usedThisYear: whether or not a queen was observed in the nestbox in 2022 * boxType: the name of the person who made the box * holePosition: where the entrance hole was on the box * nHoles: number of holes on the box * waterSheet: whether or not the box had a clear plastic water sheet on top * nubbin: whether or not the box contained a clay ball * insulation: type of insulation the box was filled with * rfidAttach: whether or not the RFID box was attached to the outside of the box * usedLastYear: whether or not the box was used by bumble bees in 2021 * position: location of the nestbox (strapped to a tree or on the ground) * siteType: macrohabitat in which the box was placed * Edge: whether the box was within 3 meters of the edge of that habitat * substrate: general description of the ground substrate below the box * LAT: latitude * LONG: longitude #### File: human_obs.csv **Description:** raw data for in-person observations of nestboxes in 2022 ##### Variables * nestID: unique nestbox identifier * date: date of observation * start: start time of observation * end: end time of observation * duration: duration of observation * obsTime: time of individual bee observation * direction: direction of motion of the bee (into or out of the nextbox) * caste: caste of the bee (worker or queen) * notes: relevant notes #### File: q17.csv **Description:** all raw RFID data for nestbox 17 in 2021 [*B. centralis*] #### File: q31.csv **Description:** all raw RFID reads for nestbox 31 in 2021 [*B. appositus*] #### File: q39.csv **Description:** all raw RFID reads for nestbox 39 in 2021 [*B. rufocinctus* (1)] #### File: 018_0711.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nestbox 18 as of July 11, 2022 [*B. fervidus* (3) & *B. fervidus* (3) - INVADER] #### File: 018_0720.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nestbox 18 as of July 20, 2022 [*B. fervidus* (3) & *B. fervidus* (3) - INVADER] #### File: 040_0629.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nestbox 40 as of June 29, 2022 [*B. fervidus* (2)] #### File: 050_0713.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nextbox 50 as of July 13, 2022 [*B. rufocinctus* (3)] #### File: 064_0727.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nestbox 64 as of July 27, 2022 [*B. rufocinctus* (2)] #### File: 064_0728_Evening.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nestbox 64 as of July 28, 2022 [*B. rufocinctus* (2)] #### File: 064_0729.TXT **Description:** raw RIFD reads for nestbox 64 as of July 29, 2022 [*B. rufocinctus* (2)] #### File: 077_0703.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nextbox 77 as of July 3, 2022 [*B. flavifrons*] #### File: 089_0717.TXT **Description:** raw RFID reads for nestbox 89 as of July 17, 2022 [*B. fervidus* (1)] ## Code/software R version 4.2.1