Risk assessment studies addressing effects of agrochemicals on bumblebees frequently use microcolonies. These are queenless colonies consisting of workers only in which typically one worker will lay unfertilized male-destined eggs. In the first tier of risk assessment for bees, short-term laboratory experiments (e.g. microcolonies) are used, the re...
Published in Movement Ecology
BackgroundSpecies interactions may affect spatial dynamics when the movement of one species is determined by the presence of another one. The most direct species-dependence of dispersal is vectored, usually cross-kingdom, movement of immobile parasites, diseases or seeds by mobile animals. Joint movements of species should, however, not be vectored...
Arthropod–fungus interactions involving the Laboulbeniomycetes have been pondered for several hundred years. Early studies of Laboulbeniomycetes faced several uncertainties. Were they parasitic worms, red algal relatives, or fungi? If they were fungi, to which group did they belong? What was the nature of their interactions with their arthropod hos...
Biocontrol agents (BCAs) are commonly sprayed on flowering pipfruit trees to prevent them from getting infected by various pathogens. By entomovectoring, BCAs can be directly delivered onto the flowers. However, we currently lack knowledge on the distribution dynamics of BCAs by pollinators. Here, managed bees, both bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) ...
The invasion of non-native bees to new ecological territories could spread novel pathogens causing emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) in native species. We provide novel information on the prevalence, load, and co-infection network of honey bee viruses, trypanosoma, microsporidia and neogregarinorida pathogens in native Bombus dahlbomii and non-na...
status: published
status: published
Mutualistic bee-plant interaction networks are a vital part of terrestrial ecosystems. They frequently arise through co-evolutionary processes, which match the traits of both partners, facilitating their interaction. Insights in these interaction mechanisms are vital to be able to manage changing ecosystems. This entails the need for models to pred...
Published in Scientific Reports
Honey bees are under pressure due to abnormal high colony death rates, especially during the winter. The infestation by the Varroa destructor mite and the viruses that this ectoparasite transmits are generally considered as the bees’ most important biological threats. Almost all efforts to remedy this dual infection have so far focused on the contr...
Pollinator reductions can leave communities less diverse and potentially at increased risk of infectious diseases. Species-rich plant and bee communities have high species turnover, making the study of disease dynamics challenging. To address how temporal dynamics shape parasite prevalence in plant and bee communities, we screened >5,000 bees and f...
