[Pollinator] New paper out in time for World Bee Day

[Kit Prendergast]

Hi Beeple,
I have a new paper published! Just in time for World Bee Day, and it drives
home the message that we can no longer pretend that there is no conflict
between honey bees and native bees, and rather the introduced
invasive species, the European honey bee, can reduce the ability of our
native bees to raise future generations.
Using bee hotels, I found that increased honey bee densities were
associated with increased mortality, a male-biased sex ratio (which does
not bode well for the sustainability of native bee populations), and
greater pollen overlap was associated with fewer provisioned cells. Honey
bees also were supergeneralists, foraging on a far greater array of pollen,
including exotic plants, potentially contributing to spread of weedy
invasive garden species.
Read more in my #openaccess article 'Introduced honey bees have the
potential to reduce fitness of cavity-nesting native bees in terms of a
male bias sex ratio, brood mortality and reduced reproduction' in Frontiers
in Bee Science Special Issue: Women in Bee Science
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bee-science/articles/10.3389/frbee.2025.1508958/full

We need to redirect our focus, funding and support towards wild bees. These
are the ones that are at risk, not honey bees, and promoting honey bees can
jeopardise native bee populations.

Further experiments are required - this is just the start but finding
funding to research native bees, and especially controversial topics like
honeybee competition is challenging .

Thank you to my coauthors Zong-Xin Ren, Lynne Milne, Peter Kevan, and Mark
Murphy
And to Forrest Research Foundation, City of Stirling, Hesperia and
Australian Wildlife Society for their support


Dr Kit Prendergast
Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist
University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology)
Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni

Find native bee resources and more on my Patreon The Bee Babette:
https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBeeBabette

ORCiD: *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099
<https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1164-6099>*
Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research
YouTube channel The Bee Babette: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeeBabette
'Creating a Haven for Native Bees':
https://www.facebook.com/CreatingaHavenforNativeBeesBook/
Wild Bee artwork:
https://www.redbubble.com/people/BeeBabette/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent
Insta: @bee.babette_performer:
https://www.instagram.com/bee.babette_performer/?hl=en
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