(Press-News.org) Scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the University of Lund have discovered that the community composition of bumble bee species and their relative abundances have changed drastically over the last 70 years in Sweden. Over the same period, the average seed yield of red clover has declined and variation in yield has doubled, suggesting that the current dependence on few species for pollination of red clover has been detrimental especially to stability in seed yield.
The study was published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological Sciences and was provided within the frame of the project STEP – 'Status and Trends of European Pollinators' that is funded by the European Union Framework Program 7.
The lead author Riccardo Bommarco comments: "It is worrying to see evidence that previously common bumble bee species have become rare and even red-listed. It is possible that such changes in community composition precede extinctions. In our efforts to conserve species and manage ecosystem services is appears important to promote not only species-rich, but also more evenly composed communities of service-providing organisms."
Notable efforts were made from the 1940s to the 1960s to explore pollination and seed production of red clover (Trifolium pratense), which is an important forage crop that is dependent on pollination by bumble bees for seed set. Detailed historic records from the 1940s and 1960s were compared to present data on relative abundances of bumble bee species collected in 2008-2010 in 44 red clover fields across Sweden.
The results show that two species (Bombus terrestris and B. lapidarius) have increased from 40% in the 1940s to entirely dominate present communities with 89%. Other species, such as B. hortorum and B. pascuorum have decreased tenfold in relative commonness, from around 20% to 2% of the observed bumble bees in a flowering clover-field. Notable is also the decline for B. distinguendus from 11% to 0.7%. This species is currently listed as near threatened in Sweden.
INFORMATION:
The researchers presenting the study are Riccardo Bommarco, Maj Rundlöf and Ola Lundin at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and Henrik G. Smith at Lund University in Sweden.
Pollination services at risk following declines of Swedish bumblebees
2011-06-22
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Research reveals unexpected differences in privacy regulations
2011-06-22
The regulation of personal data varies hugely across countries and sectors, research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) reveals.
The study, which was conducted by Professor Andreas Busch of Oxford University, examined privacy regulations in four countries across three different areas - the use of Closed Circuit TV cameras in public places; Radio Frequency Identification Technology chips in consumer goods, such as electronic toll collection tags; and the introduction of biometric features in passports and identity cards. The policies in the United ...
Broadcasters failed to prepare audiences for the Arab spring, says research
2011-06-22
Broadcasters failed to prepare audiences for events in North Africa and the Middle East, according to new research from the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT) and the University of East Anglia (UEA).
Published today (Weds June 22), the Outside the Box report looks in detail at the nature of non-news factual coverage on all the main television channels in 2010 and finds that some countries like Libya and Yemen received little or no coverage at all.
In 2010, five out of the 12 countries which have experienced revolutions, civil uprisings or major protests to date were ...
Lawrenceville Clinic Near Gwinnett Medical Center Announces New Saturday Hours
2011-06-22
Rodriguez MD, a new Lawrenceville clinic and bilingual Lawrenceville family practice near Gwinnett Medical Center now offers Saturday hours. Located in Terrace Park Medical Center at 771 Old Norcross Rd., Suite 250, the practice has a physician on-site and available to see patients the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month from 8:00am - 12 noon. Upcoming Saturday dates include:
- Saturday, July 2
- Saturday, July 16
- Saturday, August 6
- Saturday, August 20
Saturday hours are perfect for people who have weekday conflicts that make scheduling a medical check-up difficult ...
Cutting edge training developed the human brain 80,000 years ago
2011-06-22
Advanced crafting of stone spearheads contributed to the development of new ways of human thinking and behaving.
This is what new findings by archaeologists at Lund University have shown. The technology took a long time to acquire, required step by step planning and increased social interaction across the generations. This led to the human brain developing new abilities.
200 000 years ago, small groups of people wandered across Africa, looking like us anatomically but not thinking the way we do today. Studies of fossils and the rate of mutations in DNA show that the ...
New evidence of the benefits of home dialysis for kidney patients
2011-06-22
TORONTO, Ont., June 21, 2011—Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have found more evidence of the benefits of home dialysis for patients with kidney failure.
Cells that help protect blood vessels work better in patients who undergo dialysis at home during the night than those who undergo standard daytime dialysis in a hospital, according to Dr. Darren Yuen, a nephrologist.
This is important for patients with kidney failure, which causes damage to the endothelial cells that line blood vessels and help control the flow of blood. While standard dialysis in hospital is ...
Carnegie Mellon methods keep bugs out of software for self-driving cars
2011-06-22
PITTSBURGH—Driver assistance technologies, such as adaptive cruise control and automatic braking, promise to someday ease traffic on crowded routes and prevent accidents. Proving that these automated systems will work as intended is a daunting task, but computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have now demonstrated it is possible to verify the safety of these highly complex systems.
To do so, the researchers first developed a model of a distributed car control system in which computers and sensors in each car combine to control acceleration, braking and lane ...
Breakthrough in the search for new treatments for MS
2011-06-22
Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a molecular mechanism which could bring about the development of new treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) — a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.
Dr Bruno Gran, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Clinical Neurology in the School of Clinical Sciences, working in collaboration with Professor Paul Moynagh from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, has discovered a synthetic chemical compound which inhibits the pro-inflammatory signals produced by the immune system ...
Astronomers discover that galaxies are either asleep or awake
2011-06-22
New Haven, Conn.—Astronomers have probed into the distant universe and discovered that galaxies display one of two distinct behaviors: they are either awake or asleep, actively forming stars or are not forming any new stars at all.
Scientists have known for several years that galaxies in the nearby universe seem to fall into one of these two states. But a new survey of the distant universe shows that even very young galaxies as far away as 12 billion light years are either awake or asleep as well, meaning galaxies have behaved this way for more than 85 percent of the ...
Jumeirah Restaurants Announces Opening of The Ivy
2011-06-22
Jumeirah Restaurants has announced that the highly anticipated Ivy restaurant is set to open its doors in Dubai, taking forward the long-standing tradition of the international brasserie in London.
The Ivy in Dubai will share the same standards of food, ambience and service as The Ivy in London, but will also take on board the best that Dubai has to offer. Located on the ground floor of The Boulevard, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, which is one of Jumeirah's Dubai hotels, The Ivy has been welcoming diners since 9 June, 2011.
Designed by Martin Brudnizki, the restaurant ...
Cooling system may build eggs' natural defenses against salmonella
2011-06-22
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Once eggs are laid, their natural resistance to pathogens begins to wear down, but a Purdue University scientist believes he knows how to rearm those defenses.
Kevin Keener, an associate professor of food science, created a process for rapidly cooling eggs that is designed to inhibit the growth of bacteria such as salmonella. The same cooling process would saturate the inside of an egg with carbon dioxide and alter pH levels, which he has found are connected to the activity of an enzyme called lysozyme, which defends egg whites from bacteria.
"This ...