Publications by authors named "Ross M Brennan"
Article Synopsis
- Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are widely studied for their role in pollination, but recent meta-analysis shows they are less effective than the top non-honeybee pollinators while being comparable to average pollinators.
- The analysis involved 168 studies, revealing that honeybees' single visit effectiveness (SVE) varies based on different plant and pollinator attributes, and their effectiveness is moderated by the type of pollinator.
- While honeybees contribute to pollination due to their high visitation rates, they cannot fully replace the ecological functions provided by native wild pollinators, highlighting the importance of conserving these other taxa.
Whether species interactions are static or change over time has wide-reaching ecological and evolutionary consequences. However, species interaction networks are typically constructed from temporally aggregated interaction data, thereby implicitly assuming that interactions are fixed. This approach has advanced our understanding of communities, but it obscures the timescale at which interactions form (or dissolve) and the drivers and consequences of such dynamics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF