What makes bees feel at home in the city?
A study of the bees of Toronto aimed to uncover what factors help or hinder urban pollinators.
Tag: Pollination
Study in Sydney reveals that preserving pollination is more complex than boosting bees
An Australian team has been studying how to best grow vegetables by experimenting with pak choi in urban gardens. They found that canopy cover and garden richness, rather than pollinator visits are the key factors in improving yield.
With hundreds of thousands of flowers, macadamia can be limited by not getting enough pollen
This study is the first to demonstrate pollen limitation in a mass-flowering tree.
When foraging for pollen from flowers, timing can be crucial
By timing their visits to twilight, just as nocturnal flowers are opening, some bees can grab most of Pseudobombax longiflorum‘s pollen.
Asian squirrels go nuts for nectar
A rare plant found on Thailand’s highest mountain courts an unusual pollinator.
Flowers grow less yellow without sulphur, and that could affect the pollinators that need to see them
Both Van Gogh and Nature like to use sulphur-derived pigments for flowers, but what happens when there’s not enough sulphur?
What happens when pollinators bring the wrong pollen?
Surely once insects have brought pollen to a flower, then plant-plant interaction is over? Not so, says Gerardo Arceo-Gómez, who argues that heterospecific (or other plants’) pollen arriving in a flower might affect plant diversity.
The colour of background vegetation reveals how bees see flowers
Studying how bees perceive flowers gives insight into how pollinators have influenced flower evolution.
Honey bees are bad news for some plants in search of pollination
Some people fixate on honey bees as essential for pollination. Reality is more complicated. For one species, honey bee visits actively harm its chances of pollinating a partner.
Sub-lethal pesticides might still kill ecosystems
The damage caused by sub-lethal pesticides to pollinators may show up first in plants, not bees.
Indirect effects of drought on bumblebee pollination of common charlock
How does drought influence floral traits of Sinapis arvensis and how does this affect visitation by bumblebee pollinators?
How will plants cope with fewer pollinators?
A recent paper highlights a critical research gap, and reveals the potential for finding new data in old places.
Slippery flowers help deter nectar-stealing ants
A wax crystal coating causes ants to slip off, while hornet and bee pollinators can fly right in.
Crop diversity and semi-natural habitat a boon to yields as well as pollinators
Greater proportions of semi-natural habitat surrounding fields increased bumble bee and honey bee densities.