Nutrition as a critical link between biodiversity and bee health

Picture: The photo shows a scientist in the laboratory holding an insect with tweezers over the opening of a plastic tube. The scientist is wearing blue latex gloves. Laboratory materials can be seen in the background.

Goals

The aim is to understand how land-use-induced changes in the diversity and composition of flowering plants affect the interactions between plants and bees. Data will be collected on the following parameters:

Diversity and abundance of wild bee species throughout the year
Nutritional and health status of collected bee species in relation to the LUI
Bee-flower interaction networks
Chemical composition of pollen of bee-visited bee plant species

More information about this project can be found here: https://nutrib2.project.uj.edu.pl/

Picture: The photo shows a clipboard lying on the grass of an unmown meadow in the sunshine. Documents are attached to the clipboard. A pen and a sealed centrifuge tube are on the form above. In the background of the picture, a fenced climate measuring station, individual tall shrubs and, on the horizon, meadows and forests can be seen under a blue sky with clouds.

Climate station

Picture: The photo shows the good-humoured scientists of the project team jumping around in a meadow with insect catching quivers in their hands.

NutriB2 Field Team

Publications

Bare soil spots in grasslands in relation to wildbee richness and abundance

Nackte Bodenstellen im Grasland in Bezug auf Wildbienenreichtum und -reichtum

Härtl F. (2023): Bare soil spots in grasslands in relation to wildbee richness and abundance. Master thesis, TU München

Land-use intensity effects on intraspecific variation of pollination-associated floral traits in four typical grassland species

Auswirkungen der Landnutzungsintensität auf die intraspezifische Variation von bestäubungsassoziierten Blütenmerkmalen bei vier typischen Grünlandarten

Höwener A. S. (2022): Land-use intensity effects on intraspecific variation of pollination-associated floral traits in four typical grassland species. Master thesis, TU München

Critical links between biodiversity and health in wild bee conservation.

Parreño M.A., Alaux C., Brunet J.-L., Buydens L., Filipiak M., Henry M., Keller A., Klein A.-M., Kuhlmann M., Leroy C., Meeus I., Palmer-Young E., Piot N., Requier F., Ruedenauer F., Smagghe G., Stevenson P. C., Leonhardt S. D. (2022): Critical links between biodiversity and health in wild bee conservation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 37 (4), 309-321. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.11.013.

Automatization Process of Landscape Heterogeneity Index for Biodiversity Exploratories

Automatisierungsprozess des Landschaftsheterogenitätsindex für Biodiversitätsexploratorien

Arisoy B. (2022): Automatization Process of Landscape Heterogeneity Index for Biodiversity Exploratories. Master thesis, TU München

Effects of Land-use Intensity on Pollen Diversity in Brood Cells of Osmia Bicornis A Light Microscopic Study of Pollen

Auswirkungen der Landnutzungsintensität auf Pollen Vielfalt in Brutzellen von Osmia Bicornis Eine lichtmikroskopische Untersuchung von Pollen

Seiler R. (2022): Effects of Land-use Intensity on Pollen Diversity in Brood Cells of Osmia Bicornis. Master thesis, TU München

Cooperations are projects financed by the cooperation partners’ own funds and thus financially independent of the DFG-funded infrastructure priority program ‟Biodiversity Exploratories (BE)”. They complement the BE with further interesting research content on biodiversity research and in return benefit from the infrastructure of the Biodiversity Exploratories.