Emerging Effects of Pollinator Loss on Biodiversity

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 1895

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Sofia, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: pollination ecology; ecology and evolution; conservation; ethnobotany; medicinal plants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: hymenoptera; taxonomy; systematics; phylogeny; pollination
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pollinators play a crucial role in the maintenance of the world's biodiversity and in the functioning of ecosystems. They are essential for the pollination of flowering plants, which make up the majority of terrestrial biodiversity. However, in recent years, there has been growing concern regarding the loss of pollinators due to human activities such as habitat destruction, pesticide use, loss of floral food/forage resources, electromagnetic radiation of mobile telecommunication antennas and climate change.

The loss of pollinators has significant implications for biodiversity, including reduced plant reproduction, loss of genetic diversity, and changes in community composition. Moreover, pollinators are crucial for food security as they contribute to the production of approximately one-third of the world's food crops. Therefore, the decline of pollinators has far-reaching consequences for the sustainability of our ecosystems and the well-being of human populations.

Despite the importance of pollinators, there is still much to be understood about the impacts of their loss on biodiversity. This Special Issue aims to review recent studies and collect new data on the biodiversity of pollinators and their food plants, mutualistic plant–pollinators networks, the effect of mass crops on the pollinators, the effects of invasive plants on pollinators, the effects of invasive insects on the pollination of indigenous plants, and the effects of pollinator loss on biodiversity, as well as add more data on the problem generalization vs. specialization in the pollination systems; last but not least, this Special Issue aims to explore potential solutions to address pollinators’ decline, for instance, the sustainable planting of wild flower belts in agricultural lands without introducing alien plants, the use of biopesticides that are harmless to pollinators, etc. Ultimately, this Special Issue aims to contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationships between pollinators and biodiversity, and promote actions to protect these vital species.

In honor of Prof David Firmage.

Prof. Dr. Ekaterina Kozuharova
Dr. Toshko Ljubomirov
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Diversity 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

  • pollination and pollinator communities
  • insect conservation
  • pollination ecology
  • plant–pollinator interactions
  • plant–pollinator networks
  • Hymenoptera
  • Lepidoptera
  • Diptera

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 6912 KiB  
Article
Climate Change Influence on the Potential Distribution of Some Cavity-Nesting Bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)
by Mohammed Okely, Michael S. Engel and Mohamed A. Shebl
Diversity 2023, 15(12), 1172; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15121172 - 24 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1362
Abstract
As climatic and other impactful environmental changes continue to gain momentum pollination, services are poised to be harmed, and wild bee species are not an exception. In the present study, maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling was used to predict the potential climatic niches of [...] Read more.
As climatic and other impactful environmental changes continue to gain momentum pollination, services are poised to be harmed, and wild bee species are not an exception. In the present study, maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling was used to predict the potential climatic niches of five wild bee species, namely, Chalicodoma flavipes, Chalicodoma sicula, Coelioxys coturnix, Megachile minutissima, and Osmia submicans (all of Megachilidae: Megachilinae). The Maxent model performed better than random for the five species, and all model predictions were significantly robust, giving ratios above null expectations. Under future climate change scenarios, the Maxent model predicted habitat loss for C. flavipes, C. sicula, and M. minutissima in North Africa and habitat loss for O. submicans in Europe and North Africa in all scenarios. Conversely, the study showed that the cleptoparasitic bee Co. coturnix would expand their suitable habitat in most scenarios in Europe, Asia, and the United States, although this species would also suffer habitat loss in North Africa in two scenarios. Between the present situation and future scenarios, the potential distribution for all species decreased in their suitable habitat, with the exception of Co. coturnix. The present results are of considerable value for informed conservation programs and policy decisions regarding wild pollinators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Effects of Pollinator Loss on Biodiversity)
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