News
Insect Pollinators: A Key to Ecosystem Resilience and Food Security
01/01/2024
To safeguard pollinators, it is imperative to take actions like creating pollinator-friendly gardens, avoiding pesticides, and promoting sustainable agriculture practices. The diversity of insect pollinators contributes to ecosystem resilience by preserving plant diversity and productivity.
Neonicotinoid Clothianidin reduces honey bee immune response and contributes to Varroa mite proliferation
01/01/2024
The neonicotinoid Clothianidin has a negative impact on NF-κB signaling and on immune responses controlled by this transcription factor, which can boost the proliferation of honey bee parasites and pathogens.
Honeybees use propolis as a natural pesticide against their major ectoparasite
01/01/2024
Honeybees use propolis collected from plants for coating the inner walls oftheir nest. This substance is also used as a natural antibiotic against microbialpathogens, similarly to many other animals exploiting natural products forself-medication.
Importance of urban green areas’ connectivity for the conservation of pollinators
01/01/2024
Our results emphasize the importance of green spaces to maintain the pollinator’s community in cities, and suggest that proper design and/or management could improve conditions for these important insects.
Emerging threats and opportunities to managed bee species in European agricultural systems: a horizon scan
01/01/2024
Managed bee species provide essential pollination services that contribute to food security worldwide. However, managed bees face a diverse array of threats and anticipating these, and potential opportunities to reduce risks, is essential for the sustainable management of pollination services.
Pesticide immunotoxicity on insects – Are agroecosystems at risk?
01/01/2024
Recent years have witnessed heightened scrutiny of the non-target sublethal effects of pesticides on behavioural and physiological traits of insects. Traditionally, attention has focused on investigating pesticides' primary modes of action, often overlooking the potential secondary mechanisms.
PoshBee Toolbox: A portfolio of high quality methodologies, tools, and practice guides for pollinators
01/01/2024
The PoshBee project has developed, tested, and validated a wide range of new tools. These include, but are not limited to: experimental protocols, monitoring tools, technological tools and practice guides.
Understanding how environmental degradation, microclimate, and management shape honey production across different spatial scales
01/01/2024
Although the abundance, survival, and pollination performance of honeybees are sensitive to changes in habitat and climate conditions, the processes by which these effects are transmitted to honey production and interact with beekeeping management are not completely understood.
Pollination knowledge among local farmers in northern Tanzania and the role of traditional agroforestry practices in promoting pollinator forage plants
01/01/2024
Pollination services by insects contribute strongly to food security and ecosystem stability. However, especially in Africa, little is known about farmer's knowledge and awareness of pollination services
Farming with Alternative Pollinators for Increased Biodiversity and Smallholder Incomes in Zimbabwe
01/01/2024
By cultivating flowering crops “Marketable Habitat Enhancement Plants”, (MHEPs), alongside the edges of pesticide-free farmer fields, the Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP) approach aims to enhance the presence of wild pollinators.
Solitary bees in Pampean agroecosystems: a review about current status of knowledge
02/01/2023
The Pampean region constitutes one of the most extensive and productive grasslands in the world and experienced an abrupt agricultural expansion in the 20th century, which transformed the landscape into a mosaic of agricultural fields, extensive pasture lands for cattle, and scarce semi-natural habitats. These anthropic modifications strongly impact biodiversity, including solitary bees.
Ecology and Nest Structures of Ground-Nesting Stingless Bees in the High and Midlands of West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia
02/01/2023
The study was carried out with the aim of investigating the nesting ecology and nest structures of ground-nesting stingless bees in the highland and midland of the Dendi and Meta Robi districts, west Shewa.
Interactions between natural enemies and pollinators: combining ecological theory with agroecological management
01/01/2023
Interspecific interactions are major drivers shaping ecological communities. Nevertheless, understanding how and to what extent they affect ecosystem functioning remains a key challenge for both fundamental and applied ecology.
Agroecological measures in meadows promote honey bee colony development and winter survival
01/01/2023
The homogenization of agricultural landscapes has led to a decrease in pollinator diversity and abundance. In response to this decline, farmers have implemented agroecological measures, which, in meadows, aim at providing more floral resources.
Importance of pollinator diversity for sunflower seed production
01/01/2023
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus Linnaeus) is one of the most important food crops in the world. In modern agroecology, this pivotal plant is deeply intertwined with diverse pollination mechanisms.
Exploring the effect of landscape composition and agroecological practices on wild bees in horticultural farms
01/01/2023
How farms and the surrounding landscape are managed locally substantially affects biodiversity, with consequent impacts on the supply of certain ecosystem services, such as pollination. Wild bees provide pollination services for small-scale horticultural farming, and are key to determining and improving farm production, as well as maintaining ecosystem-level diversity.
Stingless bee keeping: Biocultural conservation and agroecological education
01/01/2023
Stingless bee breeding, also called Meliponiculture, has existed for thousands of years in Mesoamerica among a variety of rural and indigenous cultures. Due to its biocultural importance, it represents a perfect device for agroecological education and scaling, as well as pollinator conservation
Enhancing Plants and Pollinator Diversity: A Case Study of Mediterranean Fruit Orchards in Agroecological Transition
01/01/2023
Chemical-intensive agriculture is a major contributor to the decline of pollinator insects which is of particular relevance in Mediterranean regions. This research evaluates the effects of four ecological infrastructures (field margins, sown ground cover, spontaneous ground cover, flowerbeds) and one control (herbicide-treated) in fruit orchards under agroecological transition of eastern Spain on the abundance and diversity of flora and associated pollinators.
Pollinators in Tropical Ecosystems of Southern India with Emphasis on the Native Pollinators Apis cerana indica and Tetragonula iridipennis
01/01/2023
Ecosystems are rapidly urbanizing at the global and regional scales, particularly in the tropics, which has deleterious effect on hymenopteran pollinators. Based on the literature spanning multiple disciplines including ecology, pollination, agriculture, agroecology and entomology, this review deliberates on the pollinators and their global decline.
The forgotten pollinators: the importance and conservation of wild pollinators
01/01/2023
Several studies have shown the decline in wild pollinators, mainly in temperate areas, indicating that the major causes are land-use change, intensive agriculture, excessive use of agrochemicals, reduced habitat and resource availability, the introduction of alien species, pathogen spillover, climate change and emerging infectious diseases.