Pollinators under Stress: Taxonomy, Physiology, and Behavior of Insect Pollinators
1Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
2Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Pollinators under Stress: Taxonomy, Physiology, and Behavior of Insect Pollinators
Description
Although the European honey bee, Apis mellifera, plays an important role in agriculture, there are many other species of pollinators worldwide. Similar to A. mellifera, these other pollinators also are impacted negatively due to habitat destruction, use of pesticides, and perhaps global weather changes. While A. mellifera has been studied widely as the most important pollinator, we consider it equally important to understand the biology of the other pollinators.
There has been a surge of interest in A. mellifera in particular, and pollinators in general, in the last 6-7 years, mainly due to the Colony Collapse Disorder in A. mellifera. However, it is time for us to pay special attention to all insect pollinators, including honey bees. This special issue is focused on data, analyses, and perspectives that may benefit future research on pollinator health. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of researchers with interest not only in honey bees, but also in other insect pollinators which play roles in not only agriculture, but also ecological services in maintaining plant diversity and the health of our ecosystem. We would like to invite investigators to contribute original research and review articles, but we welcome perspective articles that have a high stimulatory effect. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Taxonomy of insect pollinators
- Effect of pesticide or agricultural practices on pollinator health or diversity
- Physiology of pollinating insects
- Behavior of pollinating insects
- Interactions and coevolution between pollinators and plants
Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/psyche/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: