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In Vitro Rearing of Solitary Bees: A Tool for Assessing Larval Risk Factors
Published on: July 16, 2018
Pollinator declines: reconciling scales and implications for ecosystem services
Ignasi Bartomeus1, Rachael Winfree2
1Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, SE-75007, Sweden.
Abstract:
Despite the widespread concern about the fate of pollinators and the ecosystem services they deliver, we still have surprisingly scarce scientific data on the magnitude of pollinator declines and its actual contribution to crop pollination and food security. We use recently published data from northeastern North America to show that studies at both the local and regional scales are needed to understand pollinator declines, and that species-specific responses to global change are broadly consistent across scales. Second, we show that bee species that are currently delivering most of the ecosystem services (i.e. crop pollination) are not among the species showing declining trends, but rather appear to thrive in human-dominated landscapes.
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