Wildflower habitats planted along field borders are a widely promoted strategy for supporting bees in agricultural landscapes. However, honeybees (Apis mellifera), which are often stocked at high densities in crop lands can compete with wild bees for …
Exploitative competition between honey bees and native bees could have negative consequences for native bee populations, but we know surprisingly little about when and where negative effects are likely to occur. Ongoing projects include manipulative cage experiments and field surveys designed to assess when, where, and how honey bee competition impacts native bee fitness.
Plants are essential sources of pollinator nutrition, but petals, nectar, leaves, and other plant tissues can also be sites for the transmission of parasites, viruses, and other pathogens. Current research projects include assessing the temporal dynamics of Deformed Wing Virus transmission in plant-pollinator interaction networks and using innoculation assays and pathogen screens to understand which species can be infected by Crithidia bombi.
Recent bumble bee declines have prompted the development of novel population monitoring tools, including the use of putatively non-lethal tarsal clipping to obtain genetic material. However, the potential side effects of tarsal clipping have only …
Resource competition likely plays an important role in some insect pollinator declines and in shaping effects of environmental change on pollination services. Past research supports that competition for floral resources affects bee foragers, but …
Wildflower habitats planted along field borders are a widely promoted strategy for supporting bees in agricultural landscapes. However, honey bees, which are often stocked at high densities in crop lands, can compete with wild bees for pollen and nectar, potentially limiting the successfulness of wildflower plantings at supporting diverse bee communities. My most recent research on this subject uses data on the nutritional quality of pollen from different plant species and pollen collection by bees to assess whether increasing protein availability in wildflower plantings can mitigate negative impacts of honey bee competition.
Bumble bees are among the best-studied bee groups worldwide, yet surprisingly we know almost nothing about their overwintering habitats nor the microsite characteristics that govern selection of these sites. This gap represents a critical barrier for …