Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Mapping The Margin: Comparing Marginal Values Of Tropical Forest Remnants For Pollination Services, Taylor H. Ricketts, Eric Lonsdorf Jul 2013

Mapping The Margin: Comparing Marginal Values Of Tropical Forest Remnants For Pollination Services, Taylor H. Ricketts, Eric Lonsdorf

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Natural ecosystems benefit human communities by providing ecosystem services such as water purification and crop pollination. Mapping ecosystem service values has become popular, but most are static snapshots of average value. Estimating instead the economic impacts of specific ecosystem changes can better inform typical resource decisions. Here we develop an approach to mapping marginal values, those resulting from the next unit of ecosystem change, across landscapes. We demonstrate the approach with a recent model of crop pollination services in Costa Rica, simulating deforestation events to predict resulting marginal changes in pollination services to coffee farms. We find that marginal losses …


Plant-Pollinator Interactions Over 120 Years: Loss Of Species, Co-Occurrence, And Function, Laura A. Burkle, John C. Marlin, Tiffany M. Knight Mar 2013

Plant-Pollinator Interactions Over 120 Years: Loss Of Species, Co-Occurrence, And Function, Laura A. Burkle, John C. Marlin, Tiffany M. Knight

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

Using historic data sets, we quantified the degree to which global change over 120 years disrupted plant-pollinator interactions in a temperate forest understory community in Illinois, USA. We found degradation of interaction network structure and function and extirpation of 50% of bee species. Network changes can be attributed to shifts in forb and bee phenologies resulting in temporal mismatches, nonrandom species extinctions, and loss of spatial co-occurrences between extant species in modified landscapes. Quantity and quality of pollination services have declined through time. The historic network showed flexibility in response to disturbance; however, our data suggest that networks will be …


Corpse Management In Social Insects, Qian Sun, Xuguo Zhou Mar 2013

Corpse Management In Social Insects, Qian Sun, Xuguo Zhou

Entomology Faculty Publications

Undertaking behavior is an essential adaptation to social life that is critical for colony hygiene in enclosed nests. Social insects dispose of dead individuals in various fashions to prevent further contact between corpses and living members in a colony. Focusing on three groups of eusocial insects (bees, ants, and termites) in two phylogenetically distant orders (Hymenoptera and Isoptera), we review mechanisms of death recognition, convergent and divergent behavioral responses toward dead individuals, and undertaking task allocation from the perspective of division of labor. Distinctly different solutions (e.g., corpse removal, burial and cannibalism) have evolved, independently, in the holometabolous hymenopterans and …


The Buzz On Bees, Rebecca Ruiz Jan 2013

The Buzz On Bees, Rebecca Ruiz

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Apis mellifera, more commonly known as the honeybee, plays a pivotal role in the ecosystem and in the survival of the planet. Many do not understand, nor realize, that the honeybee offers a wide array of products and services besides sweet honey. Honeybees have become endangered at a time when their presence is vital and evidence indicates that they can be the means to a more sustainable future for our planet. Particularly focused on in this research are the ideas of honeybees’ essential presence in medical advances, their participation in global economics, and their involvement in the development of …


Economic Benefits Of Using Prebiotic And Probiotic Products As Supplements In Stimulation Feeds Administered To Bee Colonies, Silvia Patruica, Ioan Hutu Jan 2013

Economic Benefits Of Using Prebiotic And Probiotic Products As Supplements In Stimulation Feeds Administered To Bee Colonies, Silvia Patruica, Ioan Hutu

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

Spring stimulation feeding of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera carpatica) is a very important technique for the encouragement of productive foraging. In addition to improving bee health by creating favorable conditions for the development of a beneficial intestinal bacterial flora, the use of prebiotic and probiotic supplements in the feed promotes good colony development, thus increasing the forager population. This paper presents the results for the economic benefit measured following use of supplements with acidifying substances (acetic and lactic acids) and probiotic products (Enterobiotics and Enterolactis Plus), as well as the synergism between them. A total of 110 bee colonies were …