Bumblebee Behaviour during Ecological Twilight

生态黄昏期间大黄蜂的行为

• 批准号: 2254597
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2254597
• 关键词: Bumblebee; Behaviour; during; Ecological; Twilight

The widespread use of artificial lighting at night in the environment, associated with human settlements and areas of agricultural and other activities, has increased since the last century, massively altering natural daily and seasonal patterns of light. Growing evidence shows that it affects many ecosystems, and more research is urgently needed to understand the impact of light pollution on animal behaviour and plant-animal interactions. The focus of this project is on bees, the most important and abundant group of pollinators. Bee flight, navigation and foraging behaviour is mainly guided by vision, but bees also rely on other sensory cues when deciding which flowers to visit. The behaviour, physiology and ecology of bees are very well understood, and advanced methods are available. We will determine how patterns of activity and bee-plant interactions vary under different lighting conditions, considering spatial and temporal dimensions of light from artificial sources and seasonal variations of daily light cycles. This research will help to predict how light pollution affects bees at colony and population level, and identify potential risks for pollination services at ecosystems level in hedge-dominated agricultural landscapes. The questions will be addressed using a combination of ecological, behavioural and modelling approaches. The project is supported by a team of expert supervisors from different research disciplines and the CASE partner, the South Devon AONB with expertise in landscape ecology and management. Observational and experimental data will be collected in the field, taking advantage of existing mappings of light pollution and dark skies in the AONB and support from local communities. The findings will inform current practices and policies in landscape and lighting management and support ongoing work in the South Devon B-Lines project led by the South-Devon AONB.

自上个世纪以来，在与人类住区和农业及其他活动区域相关的环境中，夜间人工照明的广泛使用已经增加，这极大地改变了光的自然日和季节模式。越来越多的证据表明，光污染会影响许多生态系统，迫切需要更多的研究来了解光污染对动物行为和动植物相互作用的影响。这个项目的重点是蜜蜂，最重要和最丰富的授粉群体。蜜蜂的飞行、导航和觅食行为主要由视觉引导，但蜜蜂在决定访问哪些花朵时也依赖于其他感官线索。蜜蜂的行为、生理和生态学已得到很好的了解，并有先进的方法。我们将确定在不同的光照条件下，蜜蜂的活动模式和蜜蜂与植物的相互作用是如何变化的，同时考虑到人工光源的光的空间和时间维度以及日常光周期的季节变化。这项研究将有助于预测光污染如何影响蜜蜂在殖民地和人口水平，并确定潜在的风险授粉服务在生态系统水平在树篱为主的农业景观。这些问题将采用生态、行为和建模方法相结合的方式加以解决。该项目得到了来自不同研究学科的专家主管团队和CASE合作伙伴的支持，南德文郡AONB具有景观生态学和管理方面的专业知识。观测和实验数据将在实地收集，利用AONB中现有的光污染和黑暗天空的映射以及当地社区的支持。调查结果将为景观和照明管理方面的现行做法和政策提供信息，并支持由南德文郡AONB领导的南德文郡B线项目正在进行的工作。