Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop yield, as well as to anticipate changes in this service, develop predictions, and inform management actions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThygater aethiops is a native bee that can be found in parks and gardens in diverse urban areas such as those in the city of Bogotá (Colombia). However, little is known about its biology as well as ecological adaptations to urban areas. This study aimed to describe the seasonal cycle and daily foraging activities of T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLand-use change and intensification threaten bee populations worldwide, imperilling pollination services. Global models are needed to better characterise, project, and mitigate bees' responses to these human impacts. The available data are, however, geographically and taxonomically unrepresentative; most data are from North America and Western Europe, overrepresenting bumblebees and raising concerns that model results may not be generalizable to other regions and taxa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcological intensification, or the improvement of crop yield through enhancement of biodiversity, may be a sustainable pathway toward greater food supplies. Such sustainable increases may be especially important for the 2 billion people reliant on small farms, many of which are undernourished, yet we know little about the efficacy of this approach. Using a coordinated protocol across regions and crops, we quantify to what degree enhancing pollinator density and richness can improve yields on 344 fields from 33 pollinator-dependent crop systems in small and large farms from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStingless bees represent one of the most diversified components of the natural Apoidea fauna of pollinators in the tropics. They use diverse kinds of substrates and inhabit varied habitats. Some species are typical for some natural either artificial place.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrchid bees subsist in vast tropical forest areas because they maintain close relationships with particular plant species in diverse micro-habitats. Based on the relationships among the environment and biological features (food preference, morphologic and ethologic diversity), it is possible to determine habitat quality using the euglossine array. This work proposes the use of this ecological information, in addition to diversity indices, for the evaluation of environmental quality.
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