Trigona branneri (Hymenoptera: Apidae) as a Collector of Honeydew from Aethalion reticulatum (Hemiptera: Aethalionidae) on Bauhinia forficata (Fabaceae: Caesalpinoideae) in a Brazilian Savanna

The presence of aggregates of A. reticulatum on Bauhinia has been reported, but the insects were mainly attended by ants of the genus Camponotus, and stingless bees were not regularly recorded in aggregations. We observed a colony of thetreehopper A. reticulatum and stingless bees, Trigona branneri, interacting on Bauhinia forficata (Fabaceae). Agonistic behavior was observed in bees when another individual of the same species or ants approached. Although this is not proof that the interaction between stingless bees and treehoppers is mutualistic, the interactions between ants and this insect are common and mutualistic. Thus, if T. branneri effectively provides protection for the aphids, a new mutualism can be the focus of future research to determine if the bee-aphid interactions have same ecological functions as the ant-aphid interactions

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the covid 19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 global pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18° North in Norway to 37.96° South in Australia, resulting in a data set of 25,174 rows, with each row being a unique interaction record for that date/site/plant species, and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of flowers that were not visited by pollinators, for over 1,000 species and varieties belonging to more than 460 genera and 96 plant families. The more than 650 species of flower visitors belong to 12 orders of invertebrates and four of vertebrates. In this first publication from the project, we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. The data generated from these global surveys will provide scientific evidence to help us understand the role that private gardens (in urban, rural and suburban areas) can play in conserving insect pollinators and identify management actions to enhance their potential

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 global pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18° North in Norway to 37.96° South in Australia, resulting in a data set of 25,174 rows, with each row being a unique interaction record for that date/site/plant species, and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of flowers that were not visited by pollinators, for over 1,000 species and varieties belonging to more than 460 genera and 96 plant families. The more than 650 species of flower visitors belong to 12 orders of invertebrates and four of vertebrates. In this first publication from the project, we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. The data generated from these global surveys will provide scientific evidence to help us understand the role that private gardens (in urban, rural and suburban areas) can play in conserving insect pollinators and identify management actions to enhance their potential

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in their gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18o North in Norway to 37.96o South in Australia and resulted in a data set of 25,174 rows long and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of plants that were not visited by pollinators. In this first publication from the project we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. As well as producing a data set that we hope will be widely used in the future, the project helped enormously with the health and mental wellbeing of the participants, a by-product of ecological field work that cannot be over-estimated

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in their gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18o North in Norway to 37.96o South in Australia and resulted in a data set of 25,174 rows long and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of plants that were not visited by pollinators. In this first publication from the project we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. As well as producing a data set that we hope will be widely used in the future, the project helped enormously with the health and mental wellbeing of the participants, a by-product of ecological field work that cannot be over-estimated