(The Minnesota Daily) Using the University of Minnesota Insect Collection, a team of bee researchers at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is tracking and studying native bees in the hope of understanding how the insects have been impacted by the climate crisis. Because researchers do not have a comprehensive list of which bees are native to Minnesota, they do not know much about these insects.
Category Archives: Conservation
In fire-prone West, plants need their pollinators — and vice versa
(Washington University in St. Louis) A new study grounded in the northern Rockies explores the role of fire in the finely tuned dance between plants and their pollinators. The researchers discovered that wildfire disturbance and plant-pollinator interactions are both important in determining where plants take root and where pollinators are found. But in burned landscapes, plant-pollinator interactions are generally as important or more important than any other factor in determining the composition of species present.
First map of bee species around the globe
(ScienceDaily, Cell Press) There are over 20,000 species of bees, but accurate data about how these species are spread across the globe are sparse. However, researchers have created a map of bee diversity by combining the most complete global checklist of known bee species with the almost 6 million additional public records of where individual species have appeared around the world. The team’s findings show that there are more species of bees in the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern and more in arid and temperate environments than in the tropics.
Stressful environments put bumble bees at risk
(Animal Ecology in Focus) The causes underlying the ongoing decline of bumble bees have been much debated, and include habitat loss, pesticides, emerging diseases and climate change. A recent paper evaluates how the combined effects of four common environmental stressors interact to affect bumblebees at the individual and colony levels.
Non-native leafcutter bees found in Chicago
(Spartan Newsroom) Thirty of the non-native leafcutter bees were found in a heavily urbanized part of Chicago. How they got to Chicago is uncertain, however. Their presence was previously confirmed in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. “Although we do not know the extent of the impact of nonnative bee species, there is evidence they may compete strongly with native bees for nesting resources.”
Rusty patched decline unlikely to have been driven by loss of food resources
(Twitter, Leif Richardson @leifr7) “Has the rusty-patched #bumblebee declined due to loss of food resources? Not according to this analysis of pollen loads from museum specimens.” The original paper.
Even moderate drought conditions are bad for bees
(Entomology Today) A new study tested the effect of reduced water availability on a plant used by bees and examined whether changes in plant nutrition content affect honey bees and bumble bees. “We found that water limitation directly impacts the floral resources produced by plants and this can have cascading effects on pollinators consuming the nectar and pollen of affected plants.”