Article
Entomology
Ge Zhang, Ashley L. St Clair, Adam G. Dolezal, Amy L. Toth, Matthew E. O'Neal
Summary: The study found that honey bees' use of pollen from prairie plants can depend on the season, with colonies collecting more from nonnative plants in June and July, and more from native plants in August and September. This insight could be useful in addressing honey bee nutritional health, especially during times of forage scarcity in late summer.
JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Laura C. Leal, Matthew H. Koski
Summary: Seed production and dispersal are important ecological processes. Current research often separates pollination and seed dispersal, hindering our understanding of their relationship. This study proposes a new framework to explore the impact of pollen limitation on seed dispersal effectiveness, providing hypotheses and empirical tests for further research.
Article
Zoology
Si Chen, Li Feng, Bo Wang
Summary: Scatter-hoarding rodents play a crucial role in seed survival and dispersal. The effect of seed size on rodent-seed interaction varies among species and different foraging processes. Including a large number of species in studies can avoid biased results. Seed size has a consistent effect on dispersal success across species over multiple years.
INTEGRATIVE ZOOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kanyanat Wongsa, Orawan Duangphakdee, Atsalek Rattanawannee
Summary: The stingless bee Tetragonula pagdeni was investigated as a potential pollinator for greenhouse tomatoes in Southeast Asia. Results showed that a greenhouse with stingless bees had significantly higher fruit yield and quality compared to a greenhouse without stingless bees or pollinated by mechanical vibration. This suggests that T. pagdeni could be a beneficial alternative pollinator in tropical regions where the use of honeybees and bumblebees is challenging.
Article
Ecology
Dylan W. Maag, Yannick Z. Francioli, Noelle Shaw, Ashana Y. Soni, Todd A. Castoe, Gordon W. Schuett, Rulon W. Clark
Summary: This field study on a hybrid zone between Mojave rattlesnakes and prairie rattlesnakes found that hybrids had lower body condition but exhibited similar hunting behavior and diet compared to non-hybrids. The study also found that prairie rattlesnakes were more active at night and abandoned ambush sites earlier in the morning compared to Mojave rattlesnakes.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Entomology
Amala Udayakumar, Birendra Kumar Chaubey, Timalapur M. Shivalingaswamy
Summary: The buzz pollinating bee, Amegilla violacea, was found to be the most efficient pollinator of eggplant. The fruit set, fruit weight, and number of seeds per fruit increased with an increase in anther cone bruising and buzzes made by the native bee. The study confirmed the distinct role of native sonicating bees and emphasized the need to conserve them for enhancing fruit and seed set in eggplant.
JOURNAL OF APICULTURAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mary Knowles, Xun Li, Carlos Lehnebach, Philip Lester, Julia Kasper
Summary: Historic pollination networks are important for understanding interactions between different plant and pollinator species and the causes and consequences of present insect population decline. This study reconstructed the historic pollination networks of bumble bees in New Zealand using pollen samples collected from museum specimens, revealing their foraging on a variety of native plants.
Article
Ecology
Nicholas B. Moore, Ryan B. Stephens, Rebecca J. Rowe
Summary: Rodents' seed selection is influenced by seed quality, availability, and digestive capacity. They prefer large-sized and high-lipid content beech seeds, but secondary choices differ when beech seeds are less available. Red maple seeds contain compounds that hinder digestion, but one rodent species has a better ability to process these compounds.
Article
Entomology
Aimee C. McKinnon, Luke Collins, Jennifer L. Wood, Nick Murphy, Ashley E. Franks, Martin J. Steinbauer
Summary: This study aimed to monitor honey bee hives in the field using remote surveillance to quantify flights and assess the risk of pesticide exposure. The results showed that bee activity increased in almond orchards compared to bushland, and low levels of pesticide residues were detected in the collected pollen.
Article
Biology
K. O. Soares, M. Lima, A. Evangelista-Rodrigues, A. A. F. Silva, Flavia Janaina de Araujo Silva, Ana Isaura Brito Lyra Correia Lima, Cassio Ricardo Goncalves Da Costa
Summary: This study evaluated the foraging behavior of the bee species Trigona spinipes in response to abiotic and biotic factors. The results showed that the foraging activity of T. Spinipes was primarily influenced by temperature and radiation, with a preference for solutions with higher sucrose levels. The species exhibited consistent foraging behavior across varying distances from the hives, modulated by climatic variables.
BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Christina Fischer, Friederike Riesch, Teja Tscharntke, Peter Batary
Summary: Study focused on the importance of large carabids in removing weed seeds in organic fields within large-scale agricultural landscapes, considering both local and landscape-scale effects. Results showed that local intensity of management, crop characteristics, edge effects, and landscape composition and configuration all influenced the activity density of large carabids and consequently weed seed removal.
Article
Ecology
Carlos Martinez-Nunez, Pedro J. Rey
Summary: The study revealed that environmentally friendly agricultural practices enhance the representation of mutualistic and predation network motifs, while intensive agriculture favors intraguild predation interactions. The frequencies of motifs representing antagonistic interactions were more inconsistent and unpredictable across sites than mutualistic motifs, especially on intensified farms.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Khum Bahadur Thapa-Magar, Thomas Seth Davis
Summary: This study focuses on an important area of pollination ecology, investigating the effects of pollinator behaviors and species richness on crop yields. The results show that bee species richness is not always a clear predictor of pollination services; specific bee taxa (such as bumblebees) may play a more important role when species richness is low. Additionally, the effects of bee functional groups on pollination may be modified by changes in site-level species richness.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Luis Enrique Chavarin-Gomez, Pedro Torres-Enciso, Paola Andrea Palmeros-Suarez, Ricardo Ramirez-Romero
Summary: This study investigates the foraging behavior of the parasitoid Eretmocerus eremicus in relation to the number of hosts and the risk of predation. The results show that the number of hosts has a significant impact on the parasitoid's behavior, while the risk of predation has a relatively smaller effect.
PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Absalom E. Ezugwu, Jeffrey O. Agushaka, Laith Abualigah, Seyedali Mirjalili, Amir H. Gandomi
Summary: This study proposes a new nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithm called Prairie Dog Optimization (PDO), which mimics the behavior of prairie dogs in their natural habitat. The algorithm achieves exploration and exploitation through the prairie dogs' foraging and burrow build activities, as well as their specific responses to different sounds. Experimental results demonstrate that PDO outperforms other well-known population-based metaheuristic algorithms and is effective in estimating optimal solutions for both benchmark and real-world engineering design problems.
NEURAL COMPUTING & APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Amy K. Wray, M. Zachariah Peery, Michelle A. Jusino, Jade M. Kochanski, Mark T. Banik, Jonathan M. Palmer, Daniel L. Lindner, Claudio Gratton
Summary: This study investigated the relationships between prey consumption and prey availability in two common arthropodivorous bats, finding that the most commonly consumed prey items were consistently detected in bat diets independently of their respective abundance. Despite fluctuations in quantitative prey availability, the probability of prey consumption was largely unrelated to abundance. However, the community structure of prey detected in bat diets was influenced by the local or regional abundance of prey.
Article
Ecology
Tracy A. Campbell, Eric G. Booth, Claudio Gratton, Randall D. Jackson, Christopher J. Kucharik
Summary: The study suggests that reducing nutrient application and increasing perennial grassland cover are effective ways to improve water quality in the Yahara River watershed under future climate change scenarios. However, significant reductions in phosphorus loading and nitrate leaching can only be achieved when nutrient application is reduced by 50% and grassland cover is increased by 50%.
Article
Entomology
T. M. Tai, A. Kaldor, D. Urbina, C. Gratton
Summary: Despite the importance of bumble bees for their services to natural and agricultural environments, little is known about the relationship between grassland management practices and bumble bee conservation. This study found that prescribed fire had no measurable effects on bumble bee community composition, species richness, or abundance, but increased floral genus richness and ground cover.
JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Anna Skye Bruce, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Chris Trosen, Karen Oberhauser, Claudio Gratton
Summary: This study assessed the impact of surrounding habitat on monarch presence and reproduction in specific habitat patches, finding that optimal sites for monarch habitat restoration are within landscapes with little habitat. High milkweed density and floral richness and abundance should be conservation goals in these landscapes.
Article
Entomology
Jeremy Hemberger, Grant Witynski, Claudio Gratton
Summary: Centuries of agricultural landscape changes have decreased the amount and increased the variability of floral resources for pollinators like bumble bees. Adapting to these new conditions is crucial for the survival of bumble bee species. Bombus impatiens, a common bumble bee species, is an example of a species that has thrived in agricultural landscapes with variable floral resources.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Jessica Butters, Ebony Murrell, Brian J. Spiesman, Tania N. Kim
Summary: Habitat loss from agricultural intensification has contributed to pollinator decline. Re-introducing native flowering plants as border strips can mitigate the harmful effects. Different border crop species attract different suites of pollinators, and their bloom period and flower densities affect pollinator densities. Prairie mix and monocultures of silflower and cup plant attract the highest abundance and species richness of bees and pollinator groups, while alfalfa attracts the highest lepidopteran abundance and species richness. There is a positive relationship between pollinator abundance and floral resource amount and bloom duration.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gabriela M. Quinlan, Douglas Sponsler, Hannah R. Gaines-Day, Harper B. G. McMinn-Sauder, Clint R. Otto, Autumn H. Smart, Theotime Colin, Claudio Gratton, Rufus Isaacs, Reed Johnson, Meghan O. Milbrath, Christina M. Grozinger
Summary: The lack of seasonally sustained floral resources is a global threat to pollinator health. This study used hive scales to assess nectar intake and developed a random forest regression model to analyze the impact of climate, weather, and land cover on honey bee colony productivity. The results show that warm, wet regions and high growing degree day accumulation have detrimental effects on nectar intake, while grassy-herbaceous natural land has a positive effect. These findings highlight the potential of using hive scales to monitor the effects of climate change on pollinator floral resources.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Erin B. Lowe, Ben Iuliano, Claudio Gratton, Anthony R. Ives
Summary: This study introduces a new R package called 'scalescape' that estimates the spatial scale of landscape effects on biotic or abiotic responses. The package integrates well-used regression functions with landscape weighting methods, and provides a user guide and simulation experiments.
Article
Ecology
Michael Howe, Kenneth F. Raffa, Brian H. Aukema, Claudio Gratton, Allan L. Carroll
Summary: This study found that as the population size of bark beetles increases, they rely less on stressed trees and begin to attack larger trees with thicker phloem and higher growth rates, which can support higher offspring production. Additionally, the spatial configuration of attacked trees shifts from random to aggregated. These results demonstrate the mechanisms of population transition from endemic to irruptive phases.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Tania N. Kim, Yury V. Bukhman, Michelle A. Jusino, Erin D. Scully, Brian J. Spiesman, Claudio Gratton
Summary: Determining feeding relationships of lady beetles is important for understanding the potential of biological control in the field. In this study, DNA metabarcoding was used to characterize the actual feeding relationships of lady beetles and validate the methods. The results showed that DNA metabarcoding accurately assessed diet composition and breadth in lady beetle populations. The study also found differences in diet composition and richness between different habitat types. Prey detection rates varied with diet composition and habitat type, and lower detection rates suggest the need for analyzing a larger number of individuals to fully assess diet diversity.
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
(2022)
Letter
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yichao Rui, Randall D. Jackson, M. Francesca Cotrufo, Gregg R. Sanford, Brian J. Spiesman, Leonardo Deiss, Steven W. Culman, Chao Liang, Matthew D. Ruark
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Letter
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yichao Rui, Randall D. Jackson, M. Francesca Cotrufod, Gregg R. Sanford, Brian J. Spiesman, Leonardo Deiss, Steven W. Culman, Chao Liang, Matthew D. Ruark
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Amy K. Wray, Claudio Gratton, Michelle A. Jusino, Jing Jamie Wang, Jade M. Kochanski, Jonathan M. Palmer, Mark T. Banik, Daniel L. Lindner, M. Zachariah Peery
Summary: Persisting bat species may not be able to fill the functional role of declining bat species, which has significant implications for the structure of biological communities and ecosystem functioning.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Ivan Grijalva, Brian J. Spiesman, Brian McCornack
Summary: In order to automatically detect aphid infestations on sorghum leaves, we propose to use object detection models based on deep learning and digital images. By training and testing different models within the YOLOv5 family and varying image sizes, we achieved high accuracy, recall, and mAP@0.5, making these models potential candidates for quantifying aphid densities.
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD RESEARCH
(2023)