Nutritional stress due to habitat transformation and loss is one of several factors contributing to current declines in global bee populations. Bees obtain protein from pollen, which in honeybees is consumed and digested ...

Aloe marlothii and A. greatheadii var. davyana are two sympatric winter-flowering succulents that occur in the summer rainfall regions of northern and north-eastern South Africa. Both have flower characteristics that are ...

Nectar concentration is assumed to remain constant during transport by honeybees between flowers and hive. We sampled crop contents of nectar foragers on Aloe greatheadii var. davyana, a major winter bee plant in South ...

Although the function of nectar is to attract and reward pollinators, secondary metabolites produced by plants as anti-herbivore defences are frequently present in floral nectars. Greater understanding is needed of the ...

Coloured nectar is a rare phenomenon best known from islands and insular habitats. Islands are also known for lizard pollination, where coloured nectar potentially acts as a visual cue to attract pollinators, advertising ...

1. As cropland increases, fields become progressively isolated from pollinators, leading to declines in pollinator-dependent crop productivity. With the rise in demand for pollinatordependent foods, such productivity ...

Insecticides are thought to be among the major factors contributing to current declines in bee populations. However, detoxification mechanisms in healthy, unstressed honey bees are poorly characterised. Alkaloids are ...

Nectarivorous birds typically consume smaller meals of more concentrated than of less concentrated sugar solutions. It is not clear, however, whether they use taste to decide how much to consume or whether they base this ...

Regulation of energy and water are by necessity closely linked in avian nectarivores, because the easily available sugars in nectar are accompanied by an excess of water but few electrolytes. In general, there is convergence ...

Understanding the causes and consequences of pollinator declines is a priority in ecological research. However, across much of the globe we have a poor understanding of pollinator assemblages, population trends and the ...