The effect of agriculture to bumblebees
Main funder
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 23 250,00
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/11/2018
Project end date: 31/10/2021
Summary
The subject of doctoral thesis is the impact of beekeeping on bumble bees and pollination success of wild plants, as well as spread of plant protection products via microbes and the preservation of these chemicals in the food web. The research questions are 1) how resource competition between Apis mellifera and bumblebees affects to reproductive success of bumblebees, 2) what are the effects of bee farming to pollination success of native plants, 3) how flower-visiting bees affect to microbial communities of floral nectar and bumblebee communities, and 4) how the pesticide use affect to concentrations of toxic substances in floral nectar and bumblebees? The research helps to understand how widely Apis mellifera modify communities and what is the importance of competition as regulator of pollinator populations. The study also provides information on the preservation and transport of plant protection products in the food web. Results of the study can be applied by means of recommendations to bee farming, such as the preparation of possibly restrictions imposed on the density and the choice of a suitable place to nests. This also benefits the original pollinators, such as bumble bees, whose protection research contributes.
