Conserving the diversity of bees in farmland

该项目将开展一项实地研究方案，以了解野生蜜蜂群落如何以及为什么对农场和景观管理的变化作出反应，特别侧重于地面筑巢的独蜂群落对再生农业的反应。这个项目源于我们小组的初步观察，表明春季飞蜂群落可能更加多样化，但出现得更早，在具有再生实践的可耕种农场。学生将设计一个至少两年的观察和实验计划，以证实或驳斥这一明显的模式，并探索它对更大规模的功能多样性和授粉服务意味着什么。他们将设计和测试假说，以解释蜜蜂多样性在不同结构的农业景观和不同管理的农场中存在差异的机制。

This project will conduct a programme of field research to understand how, and why, wild bee communities respond to changes in farm and landscape management, with a particular focus on the response of the ground-nesting solitary bee community to regenerative agriculture. This project stems from preliminary observations in our group suggesting that spring-flying bee communities may be more diverse, but emerge earlier, in arable farms with regenerative practices. The student will design a programme of observations and experiments over at least two years, to confirm or refute this apparent pattern, and to explore what it means for functional diversity and pollination services at larger scales. They will devise and test hypotheses to explain the mechanisms underlying differences in bee diversity, in agricultural landscapes with different structures and farms with different management.