The study was co-authored and led by Dr. Nigel E. Raine and Dr. Sabrina Rondeau, both of the University of Guelph in Canada.
Researchers decided to take further tests, and used 17 Queens as controls who were kept refrigerated in their containers without undergoing the submersion tests. For the other 126 bees, 20ml of cool tap water was administered to their tubes. These bees were either pushed under the water or left to float atop the surface. This was done to mimic and replicate specific flooding scenarios which would push the Queens into a position of immediate adaptability. For example, allowing the bees to float on the water mimicked that of high groundwater levels enabled by heavy rainfall or snow melt.
Following this period of submersion, the bees were removed from the tubes of water and were placed within new tubes. The bees who were chosen to be a part of the control group were also given the same luxury. Their survival was tracked for up to eight weeks after the submersion tests. 81% of the bees submerged survived, and 88% of the control group survived.
The results showcased the ability for bumblebees to exhibit remarkable self-preservation when exposed to environmental factors that prove lethal. This resilience to flooding has been potentially attributed to the discontinuous gas exchange of the bees, who will keep their spiracles (openings in the endoskeleton for respiration) closed to prevent exposure to water. In addition to this, trapped air bubbles created by this process may have enabled the survival chances of the bees during the tests. Dr. Raine, the co-author of the study alongside Dr Rondeau, noted in an interview with CNN that this process was akin to that of “energy-saver mode”.
While this experiment documented the short-term implications of exposure flooding in bumblebee species, the study notes that prolonged flooding is detrimental to insect ecosystems and therefore, necessary research must be undertaken to explore the effects that a diverse set of flooding scenarios may have on bee colonies.