Land Use Change Consistently Reduces α- But Not β- and γ-Diversity of Bees.

Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α-diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e.

Metal concentration in honeybees along an urbanization gradient in Central Mexico.

Urbanization is rapidly increasing worldwide, leading to rising levels of pollution, one of the major drivers of environmental change; yet little is known about the relationship between urbanization intensity and pollution levels in pollinator taxa. Toxic metals are among the most common contaminants in urban environments, but few data exist on their presence in the flora and fauna of cities in Latin America, one of the world's most urbanized and biologically diverse regions. In this study, we used an urban-rural gradient approach to analyze the relationship between the concentrations of eleven metals present in adult honeybees (Apis mellifera) and the degree of urbanization within twelve landscapes in the metropolitan area of Pachuca, Hidalgo, which forms part of the megalopolis of Mexico City.

What do we know (and need to know) about the role of urban habitats as ecological traps? Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Urban areas represent a spectrum that goes from being safe habitats for biodiversity (i.e., habitats more or equally preferred, without costs to fitness) to being ecological traps (i.

Sex-related interannual plasticity in wing morphological design in Heliconius charithonia enhances flight metabolic performance.

Flight morphological variations and its consequences on animal performance are common in winged insects. In the butterfly Heliconius charithonia, sex-related differences in the wing morphological design have been described resulting in differences in foraging behavior, daily flight distances and flight aerodynamics. It has been suggested that these differences should be reflected in the metabolic capacities and energetic budgets associated with flight in both sexes.

Assembly mechanisms of dung beetles in temperate forests and grazing pastures.

The role of deterministic and stochastic mechanisms in community assembly is a key question in ecology, but little is known about their relative contribution in dung beetle assemblages. Moreover, in human modified landscapes these mechanisms are crucial to understand how biodiversity can be maintained in productive agroecosystems. We explored the assembly mechanisms driving dung beetle assemblages in forests and grazed grassland patches, and assessed the role of dung availability, soil hardness and moisture, elevation and land use heterogeneity as environmental predictors of functional diversity.

Reduced thermal variability in cities and its impact on honey bee thermal tolerance.

Urbanization is one of the most significant land cover transformations, and while climate alteration is one of its most cited ecological consequences we have very limited knowledge on its effect on species' thermal responses. We investigated whether changes in environmental thermal variability caused by urbanization influence thermal tolerance in honey bees () in a semi-arid city in central Mexico. Ambient environmental temperature and honey bee thermal tolerance were compared in urban and rural sites.

Number of hummingbird visits determines flower mite abundance on hummingbird feeders.

Members of several genera of mites from the family Melicharidae (Mesostigmata) use hummingbirds as transport host to move from flower to flower, where they feed on pollen and nectar. The factors that influence hummingbird flower mite abundance on host plant flowers are not currently known. Here we tested whether hummingbird flower mite abundance on an artificial nectar source is determined by number of hummingbird visits, nectar energy content or species richness of visiting hummingbirds.

No evidence for costs of being large in females of Orgyia spp. (Lepidoptera, Lymantriidae): larger is always better.

Strong correlation between female body size and potential fecundity is often observed in insects. Directional selection favouring increased body sizes is thus predicted in the absence of opposing selection pressure. The evolutionary forces capable of counterbalancing such a 'fecundity advantage' are poorly documented.