Mixing with managed bees may be to blame for increased diseases in wild bumblebees, prompting concern for their conservation, scientists have warned. It has been discovered that bumblebees suffer from more parasites when they are collected from around sites using managed bees.
Managed honey bees and bumblebees are frequently used by apiarists and farmers for their honey production or pollination services. The introduction of managed bees can increase the number of pollinators competing for resources in a given area and this can have ramifications to native pollinators.
To celebrate a joint meeting on the subject of bee health hosted by the Biochemical Society, the British Ecological Society and the Society for Experimental Biology in January 2014, the BES has compiled this virtual issue on Pollinator Ecology. The included papers are drawn from all five journals and provide examples of the latest research in pollinator ecology from flower visitation and ecosystem services, to the effects of invasive pollinators, agriculture, pesticides and bee pathogens. We hope that this selection of papers will be of interest to researchers and stakeholders in this highly topical field.
Results from my newly published work,