The alfalfa leafcutting bee, a solitary bee used to pollinate alfalfa seed crops, is seriously affected by chalkbrood, a larval disease caused by the fungus Ascosphaera aggregata. One attempt to control the disease includes removing nests from the nesting boards (the "loose cell" system). We report here that adults emerging from the loose cells are heavily contaminated with A. aggregata spores....

The nests of social insects provide suitable microenvironments for many microorganisms as they offer stable environmental conditions and a rich source of food [1-4]. Microorganisms in turn may provide several benefits to their hosts, such as nutrients and protection against pathogens [1, 4-6]. Several examples of symbiosis between social insects and microorganisms have been found in ants and te...

Cooperative behaviors are common among social insects such as bees, wasps, ants, and termites, but they have not been reported from insect species that use aggressive mimicry to manipulate and exploit prey or hosts. Here we show that larval aggregations of the blister beetle Meloe franciscanus, which parasitize nests of the solitary bee Habropoda pallida, cooperate to exploit the sexual communi...

This study was carried out in the Parque Municipal das Araucárias, located in the municipality of Guarapuava (PR) from May (06) to April (07). Its aim was to investigate which plants are used by Megachile (Moureapis) sp in provisioning of larvae, and to verify if this bee is oligolectic or polilectic. The collection of the plants was carried out during the bees activity period and in an area co...

Wildflower strip plantings in intensive agricultural systems have become a widespread tool for promoting pollination services and biological conservation because of their use by wasps and bees. Many of the trap-nesting wasps are important predators of common crop pests, and cavity-nesting bees that utilize trap-nests are important pollinators for native plants and many crops. The impact of wild...

Over the past century there have been substantial declines in farmland biodiversity as a result of the intensification of agricultural practice. Concerns over these declines have led to the development of agri-environment schemes designed to mitigate the effects of intensive agriculture and to benefit biodiversity. Prior to commencing this thesis it was not clear if flower-rich, pollinator-focu...

Insect pollinators are suffering global declines, necessitating the evaluation and development of methods for long-term monitoring applied field research. Accordingly, this study evaluated use trap nests (“bee hotels”) as tools investigating ecology cavity nesting Hymenoptera within Irish agricultural landscapes. Three consisting 110 mm diameter plastic pipe containing 100 cardboard nest tubes ...

The purpose of this article is to identify and evaluate the importance birds genus Merops (European Bee-eater -Merops apiaster Blue-cheeked persicus) in Uzbekistan, as well develop recommendations aimed at solving some problems associated with its conservation. As a result study, aspect biocenotic relations, natural significance these species was revealed. economic value determined analyzed bee...

We studied the bee specialist fungus Ascosphaera in wild solitary bees to investigate the diversity of the genus in nature and the ecology of these fungi with their bee hosts. A new morphologically distinctive species was discovered which also has a unique nrITS sequence. This new species, here named Ascosphaera callicarpa, is common on the larval feces of the solitary bee Chelostoma florisomne...

1. Overall, more than 30% of bee species depend on non-floral resources, such as resin. However, the importance resin in ecology, particularly for solitary bees, has received very little attention thus far. 2. A plethora loose natural history observations, inferences, and author opinions hint towards a striking range uses nesting by bees. In this review, we focus use bees identify extant knowle...