Publications by authors named "Rachele Wilson"
Article Synopsis
- - The use of larvicides for mosquito control in Australia, specifically Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) and methoprene, raises concerns about potential risks to native stingless bees and pollinators amid growing conservation efforts and hobbyist beekeeping.
- - Despite possible risks, the study finds that larvicides are likely low-risk due to low application rates, poor long-term environmental presence, and the episodic nature of mosquito control measures.
- - The authors recommend expanding regulatory testing to include stingless bees and other non-target insects, as current assessments mainly use honey bees, to better understand the impacts of these pesticides on native pollinators.
Studying rapid biological changes accompanying the introduction of alien organisms into native ecosystems can provide insights into fundamental ecological and evolutionary theory. While powerful, this quasi-experimental approach is difficult to implement because the timing of invasions and their consequences are hard to predict, meaning that baseline pre-invasion data are often missing. Exceptionally, the eventual arrival of (hereafter Varroa) in Australia has been predicted for decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: Landscape simplification is a major threat to bee and wasp conservation in the tropics, but reliable, long-term population data are lacking. We investigated how community composition, diversity, and abundance of tropical solitary bees and wasps change with landscape simplification (plant diversity, plant richness, distance from forest, forest cover, and land use type) and season. (2) Methods: We installed 336 timber and cob trap nests in four complex forests and three simplified orchards within the subtropical biodiversity hotspot of south-east Queensland, Australia.
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