DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qfttdz0tb
title: Resource availability, competitor abundance and specialization affect competition among bumblebees

description: The strength of interspecific and intraspecific competition depends on
 resource availability, competitor abundance, and specialization. Most
 studies are conducted with single species pairs, constraining our
 understanding of what drives competition in multispecies communities. We
 investigated the effect of floral density, competitor abundance, flowering
 period, and trait specialization (proboscis length) on the potential for
 interspecific and intraspecific competition between seven common bumblebee
 species in the Hengduan Mountains of southwest China. We estimated the
 potential for interspecific and intraspecific competition using resource
 partitioning indices in plant-bumblebee networks (Müller’s index) over
 five consecutive years, quantifying changes in floral densities and
 bumblebee abundance throughout the season. The potential for interspecific
 competition increased with bumblebee abundance, particularly when floral
 density was low later in the season. On the other hand, the potential for
 intraspecific competition increased with abundance of focal bumblebee
 species and for specialized long-tongued bumblebees, especially when
 floral density was low. This suggests that resource scarcity regulates
 species coexistence by limiting abundant species dominance via
 interspecific competition and intraspecific competition. Our results
 indicate the importance of intraspecific competition and specialization in
 maintaining diversity in multispecies communities.
description: # Resource availability, competitor abundance and specialization affect
 competition among bumblebees This data package contains data from the
 publication: Zhong-Ming Ye, Yong-Deng He, Wen Huang, Xiao-Fang Jin, Pedro
 J. Bergamo, Chun-Feng Yang (2025) Resource availability, competitor
 abundance and specialization affect competition among bumblebees.
 Behavioral Ecology. The package contains one data file (in *.csv format)
 that was used in the analyses of the above-mentioned publication. Note:
 Our study also utilizes the data available from a previously published
 dataset
 ([https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25139777.v1](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25139777.v1)), as both studies are based on the same dataset. A detailed description of this data file is given below. 01-potential competition among bumblebees.csv Dataset for analyzing potential intraspecific and interspecific competition among bumblebees. The column headings represent: "year" = IDs of the five years that were included in the study (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022); "date" = IDs of census dates included in the five years of the study; "period" = Community periods, including early, middle, and late stages; "bom" = Abbreviated names of bumblebee species identities (fri = B. friseanus, lep = B. lepidus, fes = B. festivus, imp = B. impetuosus, sec = B. securus, nob = B. nobilis, min = B. minshanicola); "interPACPAC" = The potential for interspecific apparent competition via shared plants between bumblebee species; "intraPACPAC" = The potential for intraspecific apparent competition via shared plants between bumblebee species; "plant2_den" = Observed floral density on the census date; "tongue_len_acting" = Proboscis length of bumblebee species (mm); "effective_abund" = Estimated abundance of bumblebee species on the census date