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Consequences of organic farming and farmland heterogeneity on foraging, fitness and species richness of bumblebees and solitary bees
Wild bees are important providers of pollination services to
agriculture and should be a focus group for conservation. Recent
declines of bumblebees and solitary bees have been attributed to
agricultural intensification. To be able to propose adequate
conservation strategies, the mechanisms whereby agricultural
intensification affects bee populations have to be understood. Through
its effects on farming practices and landscape heterogeneity,
agricultural intensification may contribute to the decrease in
pollinator populations both by reducing the general availability of
nectar and pollen resources and by changing the spatial and temporal
variation of these. The spatial and temporal scales at which variation
acts on individual species may depend on the scales at which these
species utilize resources. Therefore landscape complexity may affect bee
diversity in predictable ways. By studying the foraging ecology of
bumblebee and solitary bee species, the mechanisms whereby farming
practices and landscape complexity affect species richness and
population densities will be investigated. The focus will be on how
spatial and temporal availability of nectar and pollen resources
determine bee foraging success and colony growth and as a consequence
population persistence and community structure. The results will be used
to propose measures to maintain viable bee populations in agricultural
landscapes.
Page manager: Frida Rosengren
Questions about the website: Web group
Publisher: Department of Biology
Last modified 15 Dec 2011
