Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Ground-nesting bees on farms lack food, grow smaller


Date:March 24, 2016
Source:Cornell University


The size of a common ground-nesting bee -- an important crop pollinator -- has grown smaller in heavily farmed landscapes, a new study has found. The study points out yet another potential threat to pollinators, along with mites, pesticides and loss of habitat.

According to a recent study, the size of a common ground-nesting bee -- an important crop pollinator -- has grown smaller in heavily farmed landscapes.

The link between intensive agriculture and the size of Andrena nasonii bees has important implications for how farmers might diversify these landscapes to benefit bees. It also points out yet another potential threat to pollinators, along with mites, pesticides and loss of habitat.

Cornell researchers, who published the study March 4 in the journal PLOS ONE, discovered that female A. nasonii bees in intensively farmed areas may not be able to find enough pollen sources in the landscape to adequately feed their offspring.

No comments:

Post a Comment

You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

ShareThis