The bee-flower biological association is one of the most famous examples of insect-plant interactions, and it is axiomatic that these are of critical importance for sustaining thriving terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, the most familiar associations are often artificially managed agricultural ecosystems, reflecting an exceptionally narrow range of bee species (often only one) and a concomitantly restricted range of associated behaviors, morphologies, and mechanisms tied to pollination. Here we provide a brief account of the range of bee-floral associations encompassing floral specialization in terms of diet, behavior, and morphology. These natural associations not only promote healthy ecosystems, but also can be integrated in sustainable ways for more efficient pollination of crops by targeting bee species whose diets, behaviors, and pollen-gathering structures evolved precisely to visit such floral species rather than less efficient, and often non-native, generalists that are otherwise exploited for such purposes.
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July 2020
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Cover Image
Cover Image
The cover of this issue of Emerging Topics in Life Sciences: New Directions in Pollinator Research, features an illustration from the review by Kessler and Chautá. In their review, they discuss how herbivory can affect the outcome of plant-pollinator interactions through plant metabolic changes induced by herbivores.
Review Article|
March 10 2020
A primer of host-plant specialization in bees Available to Purchase
Claus Rasmussen
;
1Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Correspondence: Claus Rasmussen ([email protected])
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Michael S. Engel
;
Michael S. Engel
2Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, U.S.A
3Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, U.S.A
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Nicolas J. Vereecken
Nicolas J. Vereecken
4Agroecology Lab, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Boulevard du Triomphe CP 264/02, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
December 13 2019
Revision Received:
February 17 2020
Accepted:
February 21 2020
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2020
Emerg Top Life Sci (2020) 4 (1): 7–17.
Article history
Received:
December 13 2019
Revision Received:
February 17 2020
Accepted:
February 21 2020
Citation
Claus Rasmussen, Michael S. Engel, Nicolas J. Vereecken; A primer of host-plant specialization in bees. Emerg Top Life Sci 2 July 2020; 4 (1): 7–17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20190118
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