DOCSLIB.ORG

The Bee Fauna of the South Wales Coalfield

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Bee Fauna of the South Wales Coalfield The Bee Fauna of the South Wales Coalfield By Liam Olds Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative The South Wales coalfield is the largest continuous coalfield in Great Britain. It has an area of approximately 1000 square miles. Tylorstown Colliery, Rhondda Fach Source: Northern Mine Research Society *Please note that the data contained here is not an exhaustive list They’ve gone from this……. Tylorstown Tip, 05/08/1971 ©MaryGillhamArchives ….to this!!! Gelli Coal Tips, 16/08/2016 (Photo: Liam Olds) What is a bee? Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda (from Greek arthro-, joint + podos, foot) Class: Insecta (3-part body, 3 pairs of legs) Order: Hymenoptera (two pairs of membranous wings and an ovipositor specialized for stinging or piercing) Superfamily: Apoidea Family: Andrenidae, Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae, Megachilidae, Melittidae • Around 250 species in the UK → social bees (bumblebees & the honeybee) account for around one-tenth of that figure → remainder are solitary • Quarter of bees are ‘cuckoos’ of other bee species In cuckoo solitary bees: female enters host nest and lays an egg. When the egg of the cuckoo bee hatches, the grub eats the egg/young grub of the host and uses the food provisions for its own development. Steven Falk's Flickr Collection for Hymenoptera In cuckoo bumblebees: Female enters a host nest, replaces the queen (by killing or subduing her) and then occupies the nest for the rest of its cycle. Workers become slaves. Moss carder bee (Bombus muscorum) ©Steven Falk Larger and are always covered with dense hair Vary considerably in size, appearance and where they choose to nest. Do not have pollen baskets Megachile willughbiella ©Steven Falk Andrena flavipes ©Steven Falk Some species (leafcutter and mason bees) collect pollen Most collect pollen on their legs on specialised hairs (scopa) on the underneath of their abdomen. Study sites Five study sites within Rhondda Cynon Taf: 1. Cwm Colliery, Beddau 2. Clydach Vale Country Park, Tonypandy 3. Gelli Tips, Rhondda Fawr 4. Dare Valley Country Park, Aberdare 5. Albion Tip, Cilfynydd Hymenoptera - Aculeata (bees & wasps) • 85 bee species identified – which equates to 34% of the UK Fauna & ~48% Welsh fauna • 54 species (≈ 64%) were uncommon (i.e. they were localised, scarce, rare, RDB-listed or UK BAP priority species) • Between 31 and 47 bee species identified per site (31, 36, 38, 40, 47) Solitary (69 species) Social (16 species) • Mining Bee (Andrena) → 26 species • Bumblebee (Bombus) → 15 species • Furrow Bee (Lasioglossum + Halictus) → 11 species • Honeybee (Apis) → 1 species • Nomad Bee (Nomada) → 10 species • Blood Bee (Sphecodes) → 5 species • Leafcutter Bee (Megachile) → 4 species • Mason Bee (Osmia) → 3 species • Yellow-face Bee (Hylaeus) → 3 species • Colletes Bee (Colletes) → 3 species • Sharp-tail Bee (Coelioxys) → 1 species • Flower Bee (Anthophora) → 1 species • Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium) → 1 species • Variegated Cuckoo Bee (Epeolus) → 1 species “There’s still mining going on in the south Wales valleys” Andrena coitana (Small Flecked Mining Bee) Scarce © Robin Williams Andrena humilis (Buff-tailed Mining Bee) Nationally Scarce © Steven Falk Andrena lapponica (Bilberry Mining Bee) © Steven Falk Andrena ovatula (Small Gorse Mining Bee) © Steven Falk Andrena similis (Red-backed Mining Bee) Nationally Scarce © Steven Falk Andrena tarsata (Tormentil Mining Bee) Nationally Scarce, UK BAP, Section 7 © Steven Falk Bombus barbutellus (Barbut’s Cuckoo Bee) © Steven Falk Bombus humilis (Brown-banded Carder Bee) © Steven Falk Bombus monticola (Bilberry bumblebee) Coelioxys elongata (Dull-vented Sharp-tail Bee) Colletes daviesanus (Davies’ Colletes) © Steven Falk Colletes similis (Bare-saddled Colletes) 1st inland record for Wales? © Steven Falk Colletes succinctus (Heather Colletes) © Steven Falk Epeolus cruciger (Red-thighed Epeolus) © Nick Owens Hylaeus confusus (White-jawed Yellow-face Bee) © Josef Dvořák Lasioglossum cupromicans (Turquoise Furrow Bee) © Steven Falk Megachile ligniseca (Wood-carving Leafcutter Bee) © Steven Falk Nomada leucophthalma (Early Nomad Bee) © Tim Ransom Osmia caerulescens (Blue Mason Bee) © Steven Falk Sphecodes monilicornis (Box-headed Blood Bee) © Jeremy Early © Steven Falk Thank you – any questions? Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative Liam Olds | Colliery Spoil Entomologist Email: [email protected] | [email protected] Tel: 02920 573170 | Mob: 07437 595720 Twitter: @collieryspoil Facebook: www.facebook.com/collieryspoil Website: www.collieryspoilbiodiversity.wordpress.com .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UNIVERSITY of READING Delivering Biodiversity and Pollination Services on Farmland
    UNIVERSITY OF READING Delivering biodiversity and pollination services on farmland: a comparison of three wildlife- friendly farming schemes Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Agri-Environmental Research School of Agriculture, Policy and Development Chloe J. Hardman June 2016 Declaration I confirm that this is my own work and the use of all material from other sources has been properly and fully acknowledged. Chloe Hardman i Abstract Gains in food production through agricultural intensification have come at an environmental cost, including reductions in habitat diversity, species diversity and some ecosystem services. Wildlife- friendly farming schemes aim to mitigate the negative impacts of agricultural intensification. In this study, we compared the effectiveness of three schemes using four matched triplets of farms in southern England. The schemes were: i) a baseline of Entry Level Stewardship (ELS: a flexible widespread government scheme, ii) organic agriculture and iii) Conservation Grade (CG: a prescriptive, non-organic, biodiversity-focused scheme). We examined how effective the schemes were in supporting habitat diversity, species diversity, floral resources, pollinators and pollination services. Farms in CG and organic schemes supported higher habitat diversity than farms only in ELS. Plant and butterfly species richness were significantly higher on organic farms and butterfly species richness was marginally higher on CG farms compared to farms in ELS. The species richness of plants, butterflies, solitary bees and birds in winter was significantly correlated with local habitat diversity. Organic farms supported more evenly distributed floral resources and higher nectar densities compared to farms in CG or ELS. Compared to maximum estimates of pollen demand from six bee species, only organic farms supplied sufficient pollen in late summer.
    [Show full text]
  • Flower Preferences and Pollen Transport Networks for Cavity‐Nesting Solitary Bees: Implications for the Design of Agri‐Envir
    Received: 14 February 2018 | Revised: 22 April 2018 | Accepted: 23 April 2018 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4234 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Flower preferences and pollen transport networks for cavity- nesting solitary bees: Implications for the design of agri- environment schemes Catherine E. A. Gresty1 | Elizabeth Clare2 | Dion S. Devey3 | Robyn S. Cowan3 | Laszlo Csiba3 | Panagiota Malakasi3 | Owen T. Lewis1 | Katherine J. Willis1,3 1Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Abstract 2School of Biological and Chemical Floral foraging resources are valuable for pollinator conservation on farmland, and Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, their provision is encouraged by agri- environment schemes in many countries. Across London, UK Europe, wildflower seed mixtures are widely sown on farmland to encourage pollina- 3Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK tors, but the extent to which key pollinator groups such as solitary bees exploit and Correspondence benefit from these resources is unclear. We used high- throughput sequencing of 164 Catherine E. A. Gresty, Department of Zoology, New Radcliffe House, Radcliffe pollen samples extracted from the brood cells of six common cavity- nesting solitary Observatory Quarter, 6GG, Woodstock Rd, bee species (Osmia bicornis, Osmia caerulescens, Megachile versicolor, Megachile Oxford OX2, UK. Email: [email protected] ligniseca, Megachile centuncularis and Hylaeus confusus) which are widely distributed across the UK and Europe. We documented their pollen use across 19 farms in south- ern England, UK, revealing their forage plants and examining the structure of their pollen transport networks. Of the 32 plant species included currently in sown wild- flower mixes, 15 were recorded as present within close foraging range of the bees on the study farms, but only Ranunculus acris L.
    [Show full text]
  • Mating Cluster Behaviour in the Solitary Bee Colletes Succinctus
    To confirm species identification a small sample was Mating cluster behaviour in the collected in 2006 when the population reappeared. The identity was established from a male specimen whose solitary bee Colletes succinctus morphological characters, including features in the (Linn.), Hymenoptera, Colletidae genitalia, match those of Colletes succinctus , the girdled Colletes (Saunders, 1896; Step, 1946). This is 1 1 a common species on heaths and commons and usually Pauline Lang , E. Geoffrey Hancock , Kevin forages on heather. 1 2 J. Murphy & Robert L. Watt 1Division of Environmental Biology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland G12 8QQ 2Bogendreip Farm, Strachan, Banchory, Kincardineshire, Scotland AB31 6LP In August 2005, during a botanical freshwater survey of the Water of Dye, a tributary of the River Dee at the Bridge of Bogendreip, Kincardineshire (NGR: NO 662910), our attention was drawn to the behaviour of a population of solitary bees. These bees were occupying plots of soil in the garden of Bogendreip Farm (Fig 1). Only in the last few years had Mr. Watt Fig. 2. Mating cluster in Colletes succinctus. observed the bees and not previously, in his more than fifty years of farm occupancy. The bees were A related species, Colletes hederae (Schmidt & subsequently identified as Colletes succinctus (Linn.). Westrich), the ivy bee, has been observed to form small knots of males when competing for females. A The bees had colonized extensive areas of sandy soils coloured photograph of a small group is shown in adjacent to the farmhouse, in which hundreds of Moenen (2005). Other species of the genus also individual nests formed two main “villages” with exhibit mating clusters.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Bees
    Scottish Bees Introduction to bees Bees are fascinating insects that can be found in a broad range of habitats from urban gardens to grasslands and wetlands. There are over 270 species of bee in the UK in 6 families - 115 of these have been recorded in Scotland, with 4 species now thought to be extinct and insufficient data available for another 2 species. Bees are very diverse, varying in size, tongue-length and flower preference. In the UK we have 1 species of honey bee, 24 species of bumblebee and the rest are solitary bees. They fulfil an essential ecological and environmental role as one of the most significant groups of pollinating insects, all of which we depend upon for the pollination of 80% of our wild and cultivated plants. Some flowers are in fact designed specifically for bee pollination, to the exclusion of generalist pollinators. Bees and their relatives Bees are classified in the complex insect order Hymenoptera (meaning membrane-winged), which also includes many kinds of parasitic wasps, gall wasps, hunting wasps, ants and sawflies. There are about 150,000 species of Hymenoptera known worldwide separated into two sub-orders. The first is the most primitive sub-order Symphyta which includes the sawflies and their relatives, lacking a wasp-waist and generally with free-living caterpillar-like larvae. The second is the sub-order Apocrita, which includes the ants, bees and wasps which are ’wasp-waisted’ and have grub-like larvae that develop within hosts, galls or nests. The sub-order Apocrita is in turn divided into two sections, the Parasitica and Aculeata.
    [Show full text]
  • Floral Resource Competition Between Honey Bees and Wild Bees: Is There Clear Evidence and Can We Guide Management and Conservation?
    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325627761 Floral Resource Competition Between Honey Bees and Wild Bees: Is There Clear Evidence and Can We Guide Management and Conservation? Article in Environmental Entomology · June 2018 DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvy077 CITATIONS READS 12 603 4 authors, including: Victoria Wojcik Pollinator Partnership 11 PUBLICATIONS 72 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Victoria Wojcik on 19 June 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Environmental Entomology, XX(X), 2018, 1–12 doi: 10.1093/ee/nvy077 Pollinator Ecology and Management Review Floral Resource Competition Between Honey Bees and Wild Bees: Is There Clear Evidence and Can We Guide Management and Conservation? Victoria A. Wojcik,1 Lora A. Morandin, Laurie Davies Adams, and Kelly E. Rourke Pollinator Partnership, 423 Washington Street, 5th floor, San Francisco, CA 94111, and 1Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] Subject Editor: Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman Received 31 October 2017; Editorial decision 2 May 2018 Abstract Supporting managed honey bees by pasturing in natural landscapes has come under review due to concerns that honey bees could negatively impact the survival of wild bees through competition for floral resources. Critique and assessment of the existing body of published literature against our criteria focussing on studies that can support best management resulted in 19 experimental papers. Indirect measures of competition examining foraging patterns and behavior yielded equivocal results. Direct measures of reproduction and growth were investigated in only seven studies, with six indicating negative impacts to wild bees from the presence of managed honey bees.
    [Show full text]
  • Bees and Wasps of the East Sussex South Downs
    A SURVEY OF THE BEES AND WASPS OF FIFTEEN CHALK GRASSLAND AND CHALK HEATH SITES WITHIN THE EAST SUSSEX SOUTH DOWNS Steven Falk, 2011 A SURVEY OF THE BEES AND WASPS OF FIFTEEN CHALK GRASSLAND AND CHALK HEATH SITES WITHIN THE EAST SUSSEX SOUTH DOWNS Steven Falk, 2011 Abstract For six years between 2003 and 2008, over 100 site visits were made to fifteen chalk grassland and chalk heath sites within the South Downs of Vice-county 14 (East Sussex). This produced a list of 227 bee and wasp species and revealed the comparative frequency of different species, the comparative richness of different sites and provided a basic insight into how many of the species interact with the South Downs at a site and landscape level. The study revealed that, in addition to the character of the semi-natural grasslands present, the bee and wasp fauna is also influenced by the more intensively-managed agricultural landscapes of the Downs, with many species taking advantage of blossoming hedge shrubs, flowery fallow fields, flowery arable field margins, flowering crops such as Rape, plus plants such as buttercups, thistles and dandelions within relatively improved pasture. Some very rare species were encountered, notably the bee Halictus eurygnathus Blüthgen which had not been seen in Britain since 1946. This was eventually recorded at seven sites and was associated with an abundance of Greater Knapweed. The very rare bees Anthophora retusa (Linnaeus) and Andrena niveata Friese were also observed foraging on several dates during their flight periods, providing a better insight into their ecology and conservation requirements.
    [Show full text]
  • How Habitat Influences Native Pollinators in Intensive Agricultural Landscapes
    Small Restoration, Big Impacts: How Habitat Influences Native Pollinators in Intensive Agricultural Landscapes by Caitlin Paterson A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Integrative Biology Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Caitlin Paterson, October, 2014 ABSTRACT SMALL RESTORATION, BIG IMPACTS: HOW HABITAT INFLUENCES NATIVE POLLINATORS IN INTENSIVE AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES Caitlin Paterson Advisor: University of Guelph, 2014 Professor A.S. MacDougall This study examined the impact of small-scale restoration of tallgrass prairie on native bee community composition on farms in Southern Ontario, Canada. Three farms with various crops (corn (Zea), Saskatoon berries (Amelanchier alnifolia), squash, pumpkin, zucchini, melon (Curcurbitaceae), soybeans (Glycine), and green beans (Phaseolus)) were surveyed in the summer of 2013. Availability of nesting and foraging habitat for bees was estimated and a combination of pan-trapping and sweep netting was used to capture specimens on 40 plots per farm. Results were analysed using ordination-based techniques in R, and indicated that prairie provides a diverse floral resource on which a complex and abundant array of bees forage. Restored habitat accounted for 33% of the total richness and 72% of the total abundance of native bees. This demonstrates that even small-scale restoration (~10% of each farm) may have an impact on the ability of farms in southern Ontario to support native bees. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, thank you to my advisor Andrew MacDougall and the rest of the MacDougall lab for their assistance and guidance with this project for the past two years. I would like to thank the lab/field technicians who assisted me in conducting my field work and identifying and sorting through specimens: Cara Bulger, April Clyburne-Sherin, and Felicia Syer.
    [Show full text]
  • Bee-Plant Networks: Structure, Dynamics and the Metacommunity Concept
    Ber. d. Reinh.-Tüxen-Ges. 28, 23-40. Hannover 2016 Bee-plant networks: structure, dynamics and the metacommunity concept – Anselm Kratochwil und Sabrina Krausch, Osnabrück – Abstract Wild bees play an important role within pollinator-plant webs. The structure of such net- works is influenced by the regional species pool. After special filtering processes an actual pool will be established. According to the results of model studies these processes can be elu- cidated, especially for dry sandy grassland habitats. After restoration of specific plant com- munities (which had been developed mainly by inoculation of plant material) in a sandy area which was not or hardly populated by bees before the colonization process of bees proceeded very quickly. Foraging and nesting resources are triggering the bee species composition. Dis- persal and genetic bottlenecks seem to play a minor role. Functional aspects (e.g. number of generalists, specialists and cleptoparasites; body-size distributions) of the bee communities show that ecosystem stabilizing factors may be restored rapidly. Higher wild-bee diversity and higher numbers of specialized species were found at drier plots, e.g. communities of Koelerio-Corynephoretea and Festuco-Brometea. Bee-plant webs are highly complex systems and combine elements of nestedness, modularization and gradients. Beside structural com- plexity bee-plant networks can be characterized as dynamic systems. This is shown by using the metacommunity concept. Zusammenfassung: Wildbienen-Pflanzenarten-Netzwerke: Struktur, Dynamik und das Metacommunity-Konzept. Wildbienen spielen eine wichtige Rolle innerhalb von Bestäuber-Pflanzen-Netzwerken. Ihre Struktur wird vom jeweiligen regionalen Artenpool bestimmt. Nach spezifischen Filter- prozessen bildet sich ein aktueller Artenpool.
    [Show full text]
  • Kew Science Publications for the Academic Year 2017–18
    KEW SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2017–18 FOR THE ACADEMIC Kew Science Publications kew.org For the academic year 2017–18 ¥ Z i 9E ' ' . -,i,c-"'.'f'l] Foreword Kew’s mission is to be a global resource in We present these publications under the four plant and fungal knowledge. Kew currently has key questions set out in Kew’s Science Strategy over 300 scientists undertaking collection- 2015–2020: based research and collaborating with more than 400 organisations in over 100 countries What plants and fungi occur to deliver this mission. The knowledge obtained 1 on Earth and how is this from this research is disseminated in a number diversity distributed? p2 of different ways from annual reports (e.g. stateoftheworldsplants.org) and web-based What drivers and processes portals (e.g. plantsoftheworldonline.org) to 2 underpin global plant and academic papers. fungal diversity? p32 In the academic year 2017-2018, Kew scientists, in collaboration with numerous What plant and fungal diversity is national and international research partners, 3 under threat and what needs to be published 358 papers in international peer conserved to provide resilience reviewed journals and books. Here we bring to global change? p54 together the abstracts of some of these papers. Due to space constraints we have Which plants and fungi contribute to included only those which are led by a Kew 4 important ecosystem services, scientist; a full list of publications, however, can sustainable livelihoods and natural be found at kew.org/publications capital and how do we manage them? p72 * Indicates Kew staff or research associate authors.
    [Show full text]
  • The Type Material of Swedish Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) I
    Ent. Tidskr. 128 (2007) Type material of Swedish bees The type material of Swedish bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) I. L. ANDERS NILSSON Nilsson, L.A.: The type material of Swedish bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) I. [Typmaterial av svenska bin (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) I.] – Entomologisk Tidskrift 128 (4): 167-181. Uppsala, Sweden 2007. ISSN 0013-886x. Sweden with Carl von Linné is the cradle of Systematics and therefore also the origin of a disproportionate part of the taxonomic type material. Bees are no exception. This report is the first part of an examination, including taxonomic revision, of the actual, re- puted or potential bee type material of Swedish origin. Focus is on the status, type locality, present condition, depository and history. Here, a total of 20 original specific taxa have been studied. Lectotypes are designated for 13 whereby it is stated that seven epithets are valid (bold), viz. Andrena cincta Nylander 1848, A. clypearis Nylander 1848, A. subopaca Nylander 1848, Coelioxys temporalis Nylander 1848, Colletes suecica Aurivillius 1903, Halictus sexnotatulus Nylander 1852, Heriades breviuscula Nylander 1848, Kirbya mel- anura Nylander 1852, Megachile apicalis Nylander 1848 which replacement name Mega- chile analis Nylander 1852 has the same type, Nomada cincticornis 1848, N. obtusifrons Nylander 1848, Prosopis armillata Nylander 1848 and Rhophites halictulus Nylander 1852. Especially, Kirbya melanura is found to be a senior synonym of Cilissa wankowiczi Radoszkowski 1891. The valid name of the species is Melitta melanura (Nylander) and its type locality the island of Gotland in the Baltic. L. Anders Nilsson, Department of Plant Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Villavägen 14, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden, E-mail: anders.nilsson@ebc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bees of the Genus Colletes (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Colletidae) from China
    Zootaxa 3856 (4): 451–483 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2014 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3856.4.1 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:76364451-1292-4506-893D-90E626657578 The Bees of the Genus Colletes (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Colletidae) from China ZE-QING NIU1, CHAO-DONG ZHU1,3 & MICHAEL KUHLMANN2,3 1Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, P. R. China. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] 2 Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected] 3Corresponding author Abstract Available information about the bees of the genus Colletes from China is summarized. Currently, 66 species are recorded from China, of which two species, Colletes linzhiensis sp. nov. and C. spinatus sp. nov., are described as new. Type spec- imens are deposited in the Insect Collection of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Thirteen species are recorded for China for the first time: C. edentuloides Kuhlmann, 2011, C. pauljohni Kuhlmann, 2002, C. tuberculatus Morawitz, 1894, C. annapurnensis Kuhlmann, 2002, C. laevigena Noskiewicz, 1936, C. annejohnae Kuhlmann, 2003, C. eous Morice, 1904, C. squamosus Morawitz, 1879, C. wollmanni Noskiewicz, 1936, C. bhutanicus Kuhlmann, 2003, C. kaszabi Kuhlmann, 2002, C. uralensis Noskiewicz, 1936, and C. dorni Kuhlmann, 2002. The male of C. edentuloides Kuhlmann, 2011 and the female of C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shared Microbiome of Bees and Flowers
    Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect (More than) Hitchhikers through the network: The shared microbiome of bees and flowers 1,2,8 3,8 Alexander Keller , Quinn S McFrederick , 4 4,5 6 Prarthana Dharampal , Shawn Steffan , Bryan N Danforth and 7 Sara D Leonhardt Growing evidence reveals strong overlap between production, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions. There- microbiomes of flowers and bees, suggesting that flowers are fore, hubs of microbial transmission. Whether floral transmission is pollination is an intensively studied research field. One the main driver of bee microbiome assembly, and whether emerging facet is the interaction of bees and plants with functional importance of florally sourced microbes shapes bee microbes [1,2]. Microbes can contribute positively or nega- foraging decisions are intriguing questions that remain tively to host health, development and fecundity.Detrimen- unanswered. We suggest that interaction network properties, tal effects on bees and plants are caused by pathogens and such as nestedness, connectedness, and modularity, as well competitors, while beneficial symbionts affect nutrition, as specialization patterns can predict potential transmission detoxification, and pathogen defense [1,2]. Insights into routes of microbes between hosts. Yet microbial filtering by the occurrence, nature, and implications of these associations plant and bee hosts determines realized microbial niches. strongly contribute to our understanding of the current risk Functionally, shared floral microbes can provide benefits for factors threatening bee and plant populations. bees by enhancing nutritional quality, detoxification, and disintegration of pollen. Flower microbes can also alter the Microbe-host associations in pollination systems are how- attractiveness of floral resources. Together, these mechanisms ever not isolated, but embedded in complex and multi- may affect the structure of the flower-bee interaction network.
    [Show full text]