Water Deprivation and Sowing Times Alter Plant-Pollination Interactions and Seed Yield in Sunflower, L. (Asteraceae).

Climate change effects, including temperature extremes and water stress, cause abiotic stress in plants. These changes directly affect flowering and the flower reward system for pollinators, influencing plant-pollinator interactions and ultimately seed production in flowering plants. Here, we tested the effects of water deprivation on the behavior of various pollinator species, plant-pollinator interactions, and the seed yield of sunflower, L.

Pollination crisis Down-Under: Has Australasia dodged the bullet?

Since mid-1990s, concerns have increased about a human-induced "pollination crisis." Threats have been identified to animals that act as plant pollinators, plants pollinated by these animals, and consequently human well-being. Threatening processes include loss of natural habitat, climate change, pesticide use, pathogen spread, and introduced species.

DNA metabarcoding identifies urban foraging patterns of oligolectic and polylectic cavity-nesting bees.

Urbanisation modifies natural landscapes resulting in built-up space that is covered by buildings or hard surfaces and managed green spaces that often substitute native plant species with exotics. Some native bee species have been able to adapt to urban environments, foraging and reproducing in these highly modified areas. However, little is known on how the foraging ecology of native bees is affected by urbanised environments, and whether impacts vary among species with different degrees of specialisation for pollen collection.

Continental risk assessment for understudied taxa post-catastrophic wildfire indicates severe impacts on the Australian bee fauna.

The 2019-2020 Australian Black Summer wildfires demonstrated that single events can have widespread and catastrophic impacts on biodiversity, causing a sudden and marked reduction in population size for many species. In such circumstances, there is a need for conservation managers to respond rapidly to implement priority remedial management actions for the most-affected species to help prevent extinctions. To date, priority responses have been biased towards high-profile taxa with substantial information bases.

Spontaneous choices for insect-pollinated flower shapes by wild non-eusocial halictid bees.

The majority of angiosperms require animal pollination for reproduction, and insects are the dominant group of animal pollinators. Bees are considered one of the most important and abundant insect pollinators. Research into bee behaviour and foraging decisions has typically centred on managed eusocial bee species, including Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris.