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Diversity
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Ecology and Diversity of Bees in Urban Environments
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Ecology and Diversity of Bees in Urban Environments

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2024) | Viewed by 3255

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Robert S. Nofemela

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agricultural Research Council–Plant Health and Protection, Private Bag X134, Queenswood 0121, South Africa
Interests: insect ecology; integrated pest management; agricultural entomology; applied entomology; insect rearing; economic entomology; insect diversity; biological control; insect plant interactions
Dr. Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
Interests: behavior and chemical ecology of social insects; chemical ecology; analytical chemistry; conservation; edible insects

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent times, anthropogenic activities have resulted in habitat losses and fragmentation, which in turn affect biodiversity, including that of beneficial insects such as bees. Bees play a vital role in pollination, which is an essential ecosystem service that sustains food systems and biodiversity. As such, there is the need to develop strategies to conserve bees and other beneficial insects so that development is undertaken in a sustainable manner. One way to achieve this is through the provision of safe urban environments where bees can thrive.

In this Special Issue, we invite papers that document bees in urban environments, their diversity, and the roles played by the species (their ecology) in sustenance of urban vegetation and farming enterprises. It is also imperative to document the types of habitats in urban environments that are important for the conservation of bees in their diversity. Linked to conservation of bees is the role of vegetation types in abundance and diversity of indigenous species compared to exotic species, and education awareness for the public.   

Dr. Robert S. Nofemela
Dr. Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • stingless bees
  • honeybees
  • habitat management
  • vegetation type and diversity
  • bee plants
  • roof top vegetation
  • recreation parks
  • urban gardens
  • citizen scientist
  • beekeeping

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 17092 KiB  
Article
Detection and Assessment of White Flowering Nectar Source Trees and Location of Bee Colonies in Rural and Suburban Environments Using Deep Learning
by Atanas Z. Atanasov, Boris I. Evstatiev, Asparuh I. Atanasov and Ivaylo S. Hristakov
Diversity 2024, 16(9), 578; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16090578 - 13 Sep 2024
Viewed by 558
Abstract
Environmental pollution with pesticides as a result of intensive agriculture harms the development of bee colonies. Bees are one of the most important pollinating insects on our planet. One of the ways to protect them is to relocate and build apiaries in populated [...] Read more.
Environmental pollution with pesticides as a result of intensive agriculture harms the development of bee colonies. Bees are one of the most important pollinating insects on our planet. One of the ways to protect them is to relocate and build apiaries in populated areas. An important condition for the development of bee colonies is the rich species diversity of flowering plants and the size of the areas occupied by them. In this study, a methodology for detecting and distinguishing white flowering nectar source trees and counting bee colonies is developed and demonstrated, applicable in populated environments. It is based on UAV-obtained RGB imagery and two convolutional neural networks—a pixel-based one for identification of flowering areas and an object-based one for beehive identification, which achieved accuracies of 93.4% and 95.2%, respectively. Based on an experimental study near the village of Yuper (Bulgaria), the productive potential of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) areas in rural and suburban environments was determined. The obtained results showed that the identified blooming area corresponds to 3.654 m2, out of 89.725 m2 that were scanned with the drone, and the number of identified beehives was 149. The proposed methodology will facilitate beekeepers in choosing places for the placement of new apiaries and planning activities of an organizational nature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology and Diversity of Bees in Urban Environments)
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14 pages, 1721 KiB  
Article
Next Generation Sequencing of Bee Gut Microbiota in Urban and Rural Environments
by Mustafa Rüstemoğlu
Diversity 2023, 15(9), 1016; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15091016 - 14 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2037
Abstract
The gut microbiota plays a vital role in the physiological and behavioral processes of organisms, thereby influencing the quality of life of their host. Investigating the microbial diversity of the gut microbiota of Apis mellifera, the ecological organizer, may provide key insights [...] Read more.
The gut microbiota plays a vital role in the physiological and behavioral processes of organisms, thereby influencing the quality of life of their host. Investigating the microbial diversity of the gut microbiota of Apis mellifera, the ecological organizer, may provide key insights into the ecological and health-related factors affecting host populations. This study aims to investigate the comparative gut microbiota of forager A. mellifera collected from both rural and urban environments in each of the four provinces located in southeastern Türkiye by employing Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology, specifically amplicon metagenome sequencing targeting the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. In general, the urban samples possessed a higher level of gut microbial diversity when compared with the rural samples. Interestingly, the rural samples, in addition to the majority of previously reported core microbiota members, contained human pathogens such as Salmonella enterica, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus pyogenes. Moreover, this study is the first to report the predominant existence of Enterococcus wangshanyuanii, Alkalihalobacillus halodurans, and Vitreoscilla sp. in several samples. This study contributes to the idea that urban apiculture practices can alter bacteria residing in the digestive tracts and discusses possible effects of potential infestation of A. mellifera by human-pathogenic bacteria on different aspects of life traits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology and Diversity of Bees in Urban Environments)
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