Locating nests of endangered bumble bees: Lessons from field trials in northern Germany Tracking bumble bees to find their nests using coloured strips of paper stuck to their thorax proved to be the most suitable method, while radio transponders were too heavy. Tracking times of up to .....

We discuss various strategies for locating nests of the rare and endangered above-ground nesting bumblebee species Bombus muscorum. Although we did not find any nests, we were able to track bees marked with paper strips for up to 800 m.
@jki-research.bsky.social
@nabu.de

doi.org/10.1111/icad...

Cool approach to use expert-elicited tree attractiveness scores. Would be could to match them with field-derived data in the future.

Common FIT designs contain an upper and a lower container. They may be adjusted for #bee research by removal of the upper container: we caught very few insects and not a single bee in it, which is surprising given the results for other arthropod groups, mostly in forest research.
🐝 #monitoring #JKI

Seeing the actual numbers plotted takes the shock and disbelief to the next level...
@wbrazelton.bsky.social

Bee communities caught with FITs mirrored communities expexted from the literature and from known preferences of specialized bees. They proved as a valid, standardizable and reliable tool for monitoring bees.

In an inital pilot study, we then focussed on flight interception traps (often called window traps) as a promising, standardizable method for monitoring bees in trees. We tested FITs in different tree species at their peak bloom, particularly focussing on the methodological aspects of this method.

Happy to share our latest publication with you. 🧵

Trees are often overlooked as relevant bee forage ressources. Realising that there is relatively little known about bees in flowering tree canopies, we searched for data and methodologies to tackle this gap.

@jki-research.bsky.social

🥁 Wer wird Vogel des Jahres 2026? Das digitale Wahllokal hat ab sofort für euch geöffnet und jetzt kommt es auf deine Stimme an. 💌 Waldohreule, Schleiereule, Amsel, Zwergtaucher oder Rebhuhn – Wer wird dieses Jahr an die Spitze flattern? 👉 Jetzt abstimmen auf www.vogeldesjahres.de

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

woah this is genuinely, utterly WILD

Ant queens of one species produce males of another species, so she can then mate with them and produce hybrid workers!

This is so gloriously weird I can't quite compute it 🤯🧪🐜
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Pike & Rittschof pointing out that "only ∼13% of resource competition studies evaluated fitness effects of A. mellifera on wild bees" and call it a research gap. Not surprising! It's a real challenge to look at fitness, particularly for rare species, which might be the most vulnerable.

Red List criteria underestimate climate-related extinction risk of range-shifting species Climate change causes global species redistribution and elevates extinction risk, making early identification of vulnerable species critical for timely conservation. The IUCN Red List provides guideli...

And in this context
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

This is hot!!
doi.org/10.1016/j.uc...
One of the puzzle pieces to predict future urban bee community composition...

Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and wild bee resource competition: how big is this problem? Abstract. The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) has been managed by humans for centuries for honey, wax, and most recently, crop pollination. The deep

Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and wild bee resource competition: how big is this problem?

Spoiler: not a very big problem.

Pike & Rittschof 2025

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

#apidologie #beeresearch #beescience #science #biology #environment #beekeeping #bees

Deposition of dust with active substances in pesticides from treated seeds in adjacent fields during drilling: disentangling the effects of various factors using an 8-year field experiment - Environme... The side effects from the use of plant protection products and their potential effects on non-target arthropods (NTAs) such as honey bees, other insects within the vegetation layer and epigeic arthrop...

In another study, my colleagues at the @jki-research.bsky.social could show that there are multiple factors driving this drift of pesticides to adjacent vegetation. They used sowing of pesticide-treated seeds as an example of pesticide application doi.org/10.1007/s113...

Interesting study by the @isaacslab.bsky.social showing the need for drift-reducing agricultural application techniques in order to mitigate risks for pollinators academic.oup.com/ee/article/5...

@habitecture.bsky.social

Great to read this synthesis on how effective promotion measurements for urban pollinators really are! They work! Sadly, there is no data on perennial plantings yet - watch this space.

Donate to Support Sheila Colla Through Cancer Treatment, organized by Anna Penner There is a good chance that you already know Sheila Colla: she is a brillian… Anna Penner needs your support for Support Sheila Colla Through Cancer Treatment

If you can, please donate to help with funeral costs and supporting her family. RIP Sheila Colla. www.gofundme.com/f/support-sh...

I'd like to see our opinion paper to be a starting point for a wider discussion before monitoring methodology is written in stone.

Some of the survey sites are located in intensively managed agricultural areas. Just in these locations, the field margins show an unexpectedly diverse flora during the course of the year (note the difference between end of March and beginning of May 2025). At this site, located in the Salzland district of Saxony-Anhalt, the halictid bee (Lasioglossum xanthopus) visits flowers of field bugloss (Lycopsis arvensis), among others. Photo: Dr Severin Polreich/JKI

Researchers at the JKI Institute for Bee Protection collect pan-trap samples. The spectrum of bee species and other flower-visiting insects is determined using DNA metabarcoding later on. Photo: Dr Severin Polreich/JKI

Hedges are important landscape elements, providing not only food but also nesting opportunities and sun-exposed surface for warming up and resting (here on field maple, Acer campestre), which may also have a positive effect on the pollination activity of bees in the cooler spring. Photo: Dr Severin Polreich/JKI

Researchers at our Institute for #Bee Protection are currently collecting data on the occurrence of honeybees and wild bees in agricultural landscapes. Systematic data collection over several years will provide a robust reference for future interval monitoring. #WorldBeeDay
www.julius-kuehn.de/en/bs

Great to have you here @jki-research.bsky.social

Ok, so I know all bees are incredible creatures, and it's a brave human who ranks them. But surely this blue carpenter bee would be near the top?
This is Xylocopa tumida and she is gorgeous. 1/3

EuPPollNet: A European Database of Plant‐Pollinator Networks Motivation Pollinators play a crucial role in maintaining Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. However, rapid human-induced environmental changes are compromising the long-term persistence of plant-pol...

[new paper] EuPPollNet: A European Database of Plant-Pollinator Networks
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Another wonderful paper of @joseblanuza.bsky.social making open more than >1500 networks and looking at their properties. Come for the data, stay for the cool figures!

2025 starts with a methodology publication by Ștefan et al. on Utilising affordable smartphones and open-source time-lapse photography for pollinator image collection and annotation - Happy new year!
doi.org/10.26786/192...

Cover Artenfocus

Titel Wildbienen-Artikel

Kürzlich ist ein Wildbienen-Artikel erschienen 🐝🐝

Autor*innen: Thomas Fechtler, Hanna Gardein (Julius-Kühn-Institut), Felix Kirsch @thuenen.de, Friederike Grau & Annika Haß @funcagroeco.bsky.social @unigoettingen.bsky.social & Fionn Pape.

▶️ www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Elon Musk and the right’s war on Wikipedia The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information.

The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information. Why do they hate it so much?

Was this the first online database of plant-pollinator interactions? Over the past few years, the ways in which we collate and use large databases of plant-pollinator interactions, and make them publicly available according to FAIR data principles, has been much on …

A deep dive into an old box file has unexpectedly resulted in a possible answer to the question: what was the first online database of plant-pollinator interactions?

jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/01/07/w...

#bees #pollinators #biodiversity #ecology #botany #History

Butterflies use electrostatic force to pollinate Two biologists showed that butterflies and moths generate enough electrostatic charge to attract pollen grains from nearby flowers, but they might attract predators in the process.

Butterflies and moths use The (electrostatic) Force to transfer pollen to and from nearby flowers. New on Sciworthy!
#SciComm #ecology #ecosystems
sciworthy.com/butterflies-...

A Biting Buzz Bees transfer vibrations better and increase pollen rewards when they grasp flowers with their mandibles.

A biting buzz: Thanks to Sigma Xi and New Scientist for covering our work on how #bees bite flowers to transmit vibrations to flowers during buzz pollination! www.americanscientist.org/article/a-bi...

Crop diversification for pollinator conservation - Landscape Ecology Context Intensive agriculture drives insect decline impacting insect-mediated ecosystem services that support production. Crop diversification shows promise in increasing crop productivity and enhanci...

New study: #CropDiversification can help pollinators without taking land out of agricultural production, but only some #pollinator species may benefit. We highlight mechanisms on the spatial
and temporal #diversity of crops. Led by Thijs Fijen @w-u-r.bsky.social