Socioecological drivers of mutualistic and antagonistic plant-insect interactions and interaction outcomes in suburban landscapes.

Cities are complex socioecological systems, yet most urban ecology research does not include the influence of social processes on ecological outcomes. Much of the research that does address social processes focuses primarily on their effects on biotic community composition, with less attention paid to how social processes affect species interactions. Linking social processes to ecological outcomes is complicated by high spatial heterogeneity in cities and the potential for scale mismatch between social and ecological processes, and the indicators used to assess those processes.

Understanding effects of floral products on bee parasites: Mechanisms, synergism, and ecological complexity.

Floral nectar and pollen commonly contain diverse secondary metabolites. While these compounds are classically thought to play a role in plant defense, recent research indicates that they may also reduce disease in pollinators. Given that parasites have been implicated in ongoing bee declines, this discovery has spurred interest in the potential for 'medicinal' floral products to aid in pollinator conservation efforts.

Can Conflicting Selection from Pollinators and Nectar-Robbing Antagonists Drive Adaptive Pollen Limitation? A Conceptual Model and Empirical Test.

AbstractPollen limitation is widespread, despite predictions that it should not be. We propose a novel mechanism generating pollen limitation: conflicting selection by pollinators and antagonists on pollinator attraction traits. We introduce a heuristic model demonstrating antagonist-induced adaptive pollen limitation and present a field study illustrating its occurrence in a wild population.

Light availability influences the intensity of nectar robbery and its effects on reproduction in a tropical shrub via multiple pathways.

Premise: The multiple exogenous pathways by which light availability affects plant reproduction (e.g., via influence on attraction of mutualists and antagonists) remain surprisingly understudied.

Does urbanization favour exotic bee species? Implications for the conservation of native bees in cities.

A growing body of research indicates that cities can support diverse bee communities. However, urbanization may disproportionately benefit exotic bees, potentially to the detriment of native species. We examined the influence of urbanization on exotic and native bees using two datasets from Michigan, USA.

Changes in adult sex ratio in wild bee communities are linked to urbanization.

Wild bees are indispensable pollinators, supporting global agricultural yield and angiosperm biodiversity. They are experiencing widespread declines, resulting from multiple interacting factors. The effects of urbanization, a major driver of ecological change, on bee populations are not well understood.

Urbanization-mediated context dependence in the effect of floral neighborhood on pollinator visitation.

Context dependence in ecological interactions is widespread, but our ability to predict how environmental variation will mediate the effects of a given interaction remains poor. Co-flowering plants can influence visitation of shared pollinators to one another; the effect of these interactions varies with ecological context. While research has investigated the effect of local biotic conditions on such interactions, little is known about how land use change, specifically urbanization, affects them.

Big city : using natural history and land-use history to find significant environmental drivers in bumble-bee declines in urban development.

Native bee populations are critical sources of pollination. Unfortunately, native bees are declining in abundance and diversity. Much of this decline comes from human land-use change.