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 460genera and 96plant 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

Evaluating species origins within tropical sky‐islands arthropod communities

Aim: To (a) evaluate if colonization of newly emerged high-elevation habitats occurred from neighbouring highlands (allopatric divergence and niche conservatism) or from within the same mountain (peripatric or parapatric divergence and niche shift), and (b) test for the effect of past landscape configurations in geographically structuring biodiversity (a West-East structure spanning the central part of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt).Location: Transmexican Volcanic Belt, Mexico. Taxa: Coleoptera and Araneae. Methods: Coleoptera and Araneae communities were collected in a comparative sampling framework. Seven sky-islands were sampled within two high-elevation habitats separated by altitude. Samples were individually sequenced for a region of the mtDNA COI gene to delimit Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and haplotypes within them. Richness was estimated at the community level, as well as genetic diversity within and among mountains and habitats. The West East structure was tested with a null model and an analysis of variance with permutations. Results: Few OTUs were shared between the Abies forests and alpine grasslands. High beta diversity was found across mountains. Beta diversity between the West – East grouping is higher than expected by chance. Main conclusions: Our results indicate that colonization from other mountains followed by allopatric divergence dominates as a source of OTU formation, and that despite some probable connectivity during glacial periods existed, ancient communities and genetic structures persist.We would like to thank CONACyT for the financial support granted through a master’s scholarship to AU and for the project Ciencia Básica (178245) granted to DP. BCE is supported by Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (CGL2017-85718-P), co-financed by FEDER.Peer reviewe

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 250 genera and 110 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