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Editorial overview: Behavioural ecology
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ScienceDirect Editorial overview: Behavioural ecology Hollis Woodard and Shalene Jha Current Opinion in Insect Science 2017, 21:ix–x For a complete overview see the Issue doi:10.1016/j.cois.2017.07.004 2214-5745/Published by Elsevier Inc.
Hollis Woodard
Shalene Jha
Hollis Woodard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research group uses bees as a model system for understanding the proximate mechanisms underlying adaptation, sensitivity, and resilience, with a focus on the behavior, nutrition, and physiology of bumble bees in rapidly changing and extreme environments (www.woodardlab.com). Shalene Jha is an Assistant Professor within the Integrative Biology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research investigates how global land use change influences the movement ecology and population dynamics of plants and pollinators. Specifically, her lab is conducting research on plant and pollinator landscape ecology, population genetics, foraging ecology, and the provision of ecosystem services (e.g. pollination) within humanaltered landscapes in California, Texas, Panama, and Mexico (https://w3.biosci. utexas.edu/jha/).
www.sciencedirect.com
Over the last few decades there has been a veritable explosion of pollinator research, which can be attributed to several factors. Pollinators are responsible for the increased quantity, quality, and stability of over 70% of global food crops [1], and the contribution of these crops to the human diet and nutrition is being increasingly recognized [2]. Pollinators are also a vital component of many of our planets non-agricultural ecosystems, providing pollination services to an estimated >85% of flowering plant species [3]. Further, evidence of global pollinator decline has continued to accumulate, such that the urgency to understand, manage, and protect pollinators has been recognized by the highest levels of the US government [4] and massive inter-governmental conservation efforts [5]. From this growing body of research on pollinators, the need has emerged to better understand how bees interface with their nutritional environment and how this ultimately impacts bee populations. In this special issue of Current Opinion in Insect Science, we address advances in our understanding of the foraging ecology of pollinators, with a heavy emphasis on bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), as they are one of the most important providers of crop pollination services worldwide. Although the heavily managed honey bee Apis mellifera is a leading model system in bee research, in this special issue we place a greater emphasis on the native bees, of which there are many species (20 000) living in a wide variety of habitats, with considerable variation in their foraging biology. In many ways, foraging ecology is at the heart of understanding bee biology, population dynamics, and decline. Most bees spend a considerable part of their lifetime foraging, and it is their interactions with flowers that make bees such invaluable pollination ecosystem service providers. Further, declines in floral food resource availability have been repeatedly identified as a key driver in bee declines, across a wide array of systems and ecological contexts [6,7]. Roughly half of the articles in our issue address the mechanisms through which bees interface with their foraging environment and how they are, in turn, impacted by floral food resources. Koch et al. provide an important, synergistic perspective by discussing relationships between foraging ecology and another key factor involved in bee decline: pathogens. Richardson et al. focus on developing a novel framework related to behavioral consistency in floral handling strategies, which they term tactic constancy. Woodard and Jha address how floral food resources shape bee population dynamics, movement ecology, and pollination services, whereas Forrest and Ogilvie describe the connection between bee persistence, life history traits, and behavior, specifically in the context of shifting floral resources and global change. The remaining articles in our issue examine insect-mediated pollination specifically with respect to larger spatial scales and agricultural systems. Willcox et al. discusses the pros and cons of current pollination effectiveness methods and future directions for improved incorporation of plant, pollinator, and environmental factors influencing effectiveness. Garibaldi et al. discuss the importance of Current Opinion in Insect Science 2017, 21:ix–x
x Behavioural ecology
dually engaging in species management and habitat restoration when addressing crop pollination deficits. Finally, Pufal et al. review crop pollination services and highlight the importance of scaling-up beyond individual crop fields, landscape elements, and pollinator species. Our goal with this issue is to provide a synthesis between the more mechanistic research being performed on bee foraging, often on single species and smaller spatial scales, and the ecological research that examines foraging within a broader landscape and community context. We believe that the integration between these approaches is necessary for understanding how bees interface with their nutritional environment and how this ultimately impacts bee populations. We sincerely thank all authors and reviewers for their contributions to the issue.
2.
Eilers EJ, Kremen C, Smith Greenleaf S, Garber AK, Klein A-M: Contribution of pollinator-mediated crops to nutrients in the human food supply. PLoS ONE 2011, 6:e21363e21366.
3.
Ollerton J, Winfree R, Tarrant S: How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals? Oikos 2011, 120:321-326.
4.
Vilsack T, McCarthy G: National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. The White House, Washington, District of Columbia: Pollinator Health Task Force; 2015.
5.
IPBES: Summary for policymakers of the assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on pollinators, pollination and food production. In Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Edited by Potts SG, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL, Ngo HT, Biesmeijer JC, Breeze TD, Dicks LV, Garibaldi LA, Hill R, Settele J, Vanbergen AJ, Aizen MA, Cunningham SA, Eardley C, Freitas BM, Gallai N, Kevan PG, Kova´cs-Hostya´nszki A, Kwapong PK, Li J, Li X, Martins DJ, Nates-Parra G, Pettis JS, Rader R, Viana BF. Bonn, Germany; 2016. 36 pp..
6.
Goulson D, Nicholls E, Botı´as C, Rotheray EL: Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers. Science 2015, 347:1255957.
7.
Potts SG, Biesmeijer JC, Kremen C, Neumann P, Schweiger O, Kunin WE: Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends Ecol Evol 2010, 25:345-353.
References 1.
Klein A-M, Vaissie`re BE, Cane JH, Steffan-Dewenter I, Cunningham SA, Kremen C, Tscharntke T: Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc R Soc Lond B 2007, 274:303-313.
Current Opinion in Insect Science 2017, 21:ix–x
www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Editorial overview: Behavioural ecology Hollis Woodard and Shalene Jha Current Opinion in Insect Science 2017, 21:ix–x For a complete overview see the Issue doi:10.1016/j.cois.2017.07.004 2214-5745/Published by Elsevier Inc.
Hollis Woodard
Shalene Jha
Hollis Woodard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research group uses bees as a model system for understanding the proximate mechanisms underlying adaptation, sensitivity, and resilience, with a focus on the behavior, nutrition, and physiology of bumble bees in rapidly changing and extreme environments (www.woodardlab.com). Shalene Jha is an Assistant Professor within the Integrative Biology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research investigates how global land use change influences the movement ecology and population dynamics of plants and pollinators. Specifically, her lab is conducting research on plant and pollinator landscape ecology, population genetics, foraging ecology, and the provision of ecosystem services (e.g. pollination) within humanaltered landscapes in California, Texas, Panama, and Mexico (https://w3.biosci. utexas.edu/jha/).
www.sciencedirect.com
Over the last few decades there has been a veritable explosion of pollinator research, which can be attributed to several factors. Pollinators are responsible for the increased quantity, quality, and stability of over 70% of global food crops [1], and the contribution of these crops to the human diet and nutrition is being increasingly recognized [2]. Pollinators are also a vital component of many of our planets non-agricultural ecosystems, providing pollination services to an estimated >85% of flowering plant species [3]. Further, evidence of global pollinator decline has continued to accumulate, such that the urgency to understand, manage, and protect pollinators has been recognized by the highest levels of the US government [4] and massive inter-governmental conservation efforts [5]. From this growing body of research on pollinators, the need has emerged to better understand how bees interface with their nutritional environment and how this ultimately impacts bee populations. In this special issue of Current Opinion in Insect Science, we address advances in our understanding of the foraging ecology of pollinators, with a heavy emphasis on bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), as they are one of the most important providers of crop pollination services worldwide. Although the heavily managed honey bee Apis mellifera is a leading model system in bee research, in this special issue we place a greater emphasis on the native bees, of which there are many species (20 000) living in a wide variety of habitats, with considerable variation in their foraging biology. In many ways, foraging ecology is at the heart of understanding bee biology, population dynamics, and decline. Most bees spend a considerable part of their lifetime foraging, and it is their interactions with flowers that make bees such invaluable pollination ecosystem service providers. Further, declines in floral food resource availability have been repeatedly identified as a key driver in bee declines, across a wide array of systems and ecological contexts [6,7]. Roughly half of the articles in our issue address the mechanisms through which bees interface with their foraging environment and how they are, in turn, impacted by floral food resources. Koch et al. provide an important, synergistic perspective by discussing relationships between foraging ecology and another key factor involved in bee decline: pathogens. Richardson et al. focus on developing a novel framework related to behavioral consistency in floral handling strategies, which they term tactic constancy. Woodard and Jha address how floral food resources shape bee population dynamics, movement ecology, and pollination services, whereas Forrest and Ogilvie describe the connection between bee persistence, life history traits, and behavior, specifically in the context of shifting floral resources and global change. The remaining articles in our issue examine insect-mediated pollination specifically with respect to larger spatial scales and agricultural systems. Willcox et al. discusses the pros and cons of current pollination effectiveness methods and future directions for improved incorporation of plant, pollinator, and environmental factors influencing effectiveness. Garibaldi et al. discuss the importance of Current Opinion in Insect Science 2017, 21:ix–x
x Behavioural ecology
dually engaging in species management and habitat restoration when addressing crop pollination deficits. Finally, Pufal et al. review crop pollination services and highlight the importance of scaling-up beyond individual crop fields, landscape elements, and pollinator species. Our goal with this issue is to provide a synthesis between the more mechanistic research being performed on bee foraging, often on single species and smaller spatial scales, and the ecological research that examines foraging within a broader landscape and community context. We believe that the integration between these approaches is necessary for understanding how bees interface with their nutritional environment and how this ultimately impacts bee populations. We sincerely thank all authors and reviewers for their contributions to the issue.
2.
Eilers EJ, Kremen C, Smith Greenleaf S, Garber AK, Klein A-M: Contribution of pollinator-mediated crops to nutrients in the human food supply. PLoS ONE 2011, 6:e21363e21366.
3.
Ollerton J, Winfree R, Tarrant S: How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals? Oikos 2011, 120:321-326.
4.
Vilsack T, McCarthy G: National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. The White House, Washington, District of Columbia: Pollinator Health Task Force; 2015.
5.
IPBES: Summary for policymakers of the assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on pollinators, pollination and food production. In Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Edited by Potts SG, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL, Ngo HT, Biesmeijer JC, Breeze TD, Dicks LV, Garibaldi LA, Hill R, Settele J, Vanbergen AJ, Aizen MA, Cunningham SA, Eardley C, Freitas BM, Gallai N, Kevan PG, Kova´cs-Hostya´nszki A, Kwapong PK, Li J, Li X, Martins DJ, Nates-Parra G, Pettis JS, Rader R, Viana BF. Bonn, Germany; 2016. 36 pp..
6.
Goulson D, Nicholls E, Botı´as C, Rotheray EL: Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers. Science 2015, 347:1255957.
7.
Potts SG, Biesmeijer JC, Kremen C, Neumann P, Schweiger O, Kunin WE: Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends Ecol Evol 2010, 25:345-353.
References 1.
Klein A-M, Vaissie`re BE, Cane JH, Steffan-Dewenter I, Cunningham SA, Kremen C, Tscharntke T: Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc R Soc Lond B 2007, 274:303-313.
Current Opinion in Insect Science 2017, 21:ix–x
www.sciencedirect.com