From Trash to Treasure: How Bee Bycatch Can Advance Ecological Research, Collaborations
In many agricultural settings, insect pest traps can also attract bees. In a new report, a group of researchers examine ways to reduce bee bycatch in pest traps while also exploring how bee bycatch can aid in assessing bee biodiversity, population levels, range shifts, and more.
In a New Study, Spring Forest Bees Get Their Due
Wild bees that live primarily in forests are an understudied group, but new research sheds light on the ecology of bee species that do much of the spring pollination work in woodlands.
Pollinator Conservation on Solar Farms: The Entomology Perspective
Amid the steady growth of solar energy production in the United States, pollinator conservation at solar installations has become an appealing secondary pursuit, but the long-term success of such efforts remains to be seen. In a new article published today in the journal Environmental Entomology, a group of entomologists say pairing solar energy with pollinator habitat offers great promise, but scientific evaluation and meaningful standards will be key to making it a true win-win combination.
New Research Deepens Mystery About Evolution of Bees’ Social Behavior
A new study has mounted perhaps the most intricate, detailed look ever at the diversity in structure and form of bees, offering new insights in a long-standing debate over how complex social behaviors arose in certain branches of bees' evolutionary tree. The report offers strong evidence that complex social behavior developed just once in pollen-carrying bees, rather than twice or more, separately, in different evolutionary branches—but researchers say the case is far from closed.