Bee-haviour to ‘Save the Bees’
bees
pesticides
pollination
cognition
Global declines in pollinator populations have been attributed to various, often interacting, environmental stressors. These include poor nutrition, pesticides and disease. In this talk I will discuss how understanding bee behaviour can play a key role in both pollinator conservation and food security. I will present previous work investigating the impact of environmental stressors on bee behaviour, including the use of harmonic radar to track bee flight and navigation and measuring the impact of pesticide exposure on bee learning and memory. I will also present ongoing work to understand the sensory and cognitive drivers of bee nutritional ecology, which aims to better understand the implications of bee foraging choices for pollination, with the ultimate goal of improving the management of agri-environments to maximise nutritional outcomes for both insects and humans.
