Original Article: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1390
- Pollination can be achieved by many various animals including birds, insects, and bats.
- Bees are one of the most popular and important types of pollinator.
- Bee pollination helps both in agricultural and natural ecosystem.
- However, bees and other beneficial insects experience several stressors within agricultural landscapes.
- These stressors impact their health and reduce their ability to deliver the ecosystem services.
- Human food supplies depend on bee’s role in the ecosystem.
- Removing the effects of these stressors is a primary challenge.
- It is important to understand how to promote bee populations and ensure robust pollination and other ecosystem services.
- Researchers quantify the effects of limited food source and exposure to pesticide on the survival, nesting, and reproduction of the blue orchard bee.
- Bees were put in large flight cages and had accessed to wildflowers with different densities.
- The wildflowers were treated with or without the common insecticide.
- The insecticide used was imidacloprid.
- Pesticide and resource limitation dramatically decrease reproduction in free-flying bees.
- The results highlight the importance of considering multiple drivers to tell population persistence, management, and risk assessment for the long-term sustainability of food production and natural ecosystems.
Source:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1390
http://labs.biology.ucsd.edu/nieh/TeachingBee/importanceofbees.htm
