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Insects
Special Issues
Monitoring and Conservation of Pollinators and Their Ecological Interactions
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Monitoring and Conservation of Pollinators and Their Ecological Interactions

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 3942

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jan Klečka

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Interests: plant–pollinator interactions; insect ecology; foraging biology; ecological networks; predator–prey interactions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pollinators play a crucial role in both natural ecosystems and agroecosystems because most vascular plants require animal pollination for successful sexual reproduction. However, an alarming decline of various groups of pollinators, such as bees, flies, butterflies, etc., has been reported. There is, thus, an urgent need for improvements in the monitoring of pollinators to track changes of their abundance, community composition, and their interactions with mutualistic partners, i.e., plants, but also with their natural enemies, such as parasites and predators. Data from such monitoring projects are needed to inform measures aimed at the conservation of pollinators.

This Special Issue will include original research or review articles dealing with the monitoring of pollinator populations, communities, and their ecological interactions. Manuscripts reporting results of projects tracking the abundance of pollinator populations or plant–pollinator community structures over longer time periods, larger spatial scales, or along environmental gradients are encouraged. In addition, reports on the validation and application of new approaches, such as DNA metabarcoding, to track changes of resource use by pollinators, or the frequency of their interactions with parasites or predators are particularly welcome.

Dr. Jan Klečka
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant–pollinator interactions
  • pollinators
  • pollination
  • parasites
  • DNA barcoding
  • DNA metabarcoding
  • population dynamics
  • community structure

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2416 KiB  
Article
Location and Creation of Nest Sites for Ground-Nesting Bees in Apple Orchards
by Michelle T. Fountain, Konstantinos Tsiolis, Celine X. Silva, Greg Deakin, Michael P. D. Garratt, Rory O’Connor, Claire Carvell, Richard F. Pywell, Michael Edwards and Simon G. Potts
Insects 2023, 14(6), 490; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14060490 - 24 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1902
Abstract
Wild ground-nesting bees are key pollinators of apple (Malus domestica). We explored, (1) where they choose to nest, (2) what influences site selection and (3) species richness in orchards. Twenty-three orchards were studied over three years; twelve were treated with additional [...] Read more.
Wild ground-nesting bees are key pollinators of apple (Malus domestica). We explored, (1) where they choose to nest, (2) what influences site selection and (3) species richness in orchards. Twenty-three orchards were studied over three years; twelve were treated with additional herbicide to increase bare ground with the remainder as untreated controls. Vegetation cover, soil type, soil compaction, nest number and location, and species were recorded. Fourteen species of ground-nesting solitary/eusocial bee were identified. Most nests were in areas free of vegetation and areas treated with additional herbicide were utilised by ground nesting bees within three years of application. Nests were also evenly distributed along the vegetation-free strips underneath the apple trees. This area was an important ground-nesting bee habitat with mean numbers of nests at peak nest activity of 873 per ha (range 44–5705), and 1153 per ha (range 0–4082) in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Increasing and maintaining areas of bare ground in apple orchards during peak nesting events could improve nesting opportunities for some species of ground-nesting bee and, combined with flowers strips, be part of a more sustainable pollinator management approach. The area under the tree row is an important contributor to the ground-nesting bee habitat and should be kept bare during peak nesting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Conservation of Pollinators and Their Ecological Interactions)
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15 pages, 675 KiB  
Article
Development of Nuclear DNA Markers for Applications in Genetic Diversity Study of Oil Palm-Pollinating Weevil Populations
by Fairuz Farhana Mohd Rodzik, Nurshazwani Amalina Sudirman, Chee-Keng Teh, Ai-Ling Ong, Huey-Ying Heng, Salmah Yaakop, Norfarhan Mohd-Assaad, Meilina Ong-Abdullah, Nabeel Ata, Samsudin Amit, Burhanuddin Saragih, David Ross Appleton and Harikrishna Kulaveerasingam
Insects 2023, 14(2), 157; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14020157 - 03 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1678
Abstract
The oil palm-pollinating weevil (Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust) was introduced from Cameroon, West Africa, to Malaysia in 1981, and subsequently, to other oil palm-growing countries as well. This study aims to develop a set of robust E. kamerunicus-specific nuclear DNA markers to [...] Read more.
The oil palm-pollinating weevil (Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust) was introduced from Cameroon, West Africa, to Malaysia in 1981, and subsequently, to other oil palm-growing countries as well. This study aims to develop a set of robust E. kamerunicus-specific nuclear DNA markers to directly assess the genetic diversity of the weevil populations. A total of 19,148 SNP and 223,200 SSR were discovered from 48 weevils representing three origins (Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Riau) using RAD tag sequencing. Subsequent filtering steps further reduced these to 1000 SNP and 120 SSR. The selected 220 SNP exhibited a polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.2387 (±0.1280), and 8 SSR had the PIC of 0.5084 (±0.1928). These markers were found to show sufficient polymorphism, making it possible to assign 180 weevils into three major clusters from Ghana, Cameroon, and Southeast Asia (mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia). These DNA markers successfully confirmed the Cameroon origin of the Southeast Asian cluster. However, the presence of null alleles in the SSR markers, due to limited flexibility of the probe design on the short RAD tags, led to an underestimation of heterozygosity within the populations. Hence, the developed SNP markers turned out to be more efficient than the SSR markers in the genetic diversity assessment of the E. kamerunicus populations. The genetic information provides useful insight into developing guidelines for the genetic monitoring and conservation planning of E. kamerunicus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Conservation of Pollinators and Their Ecological Interactions)
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