Jelle Devalez

Plant diversity is critical to ensure the future of humanity, as it provides essential ecosystem services and functioning. As recent estimates showed that animal-mediated pollination is crucial for the reproduction of approximately 90% of flowering plants, playing an essential role in maintaining biodiversity and agricultural productivity, effort t...

Bonaire is an isolated oceanic island at the border of the Guajira-Barranquilla ecoregion which is dominated by tropical dry forest. In this paper we present an overview of the bees of this island mainly based on material collected during the Bonaire Estafette Expeditie in 2022-2023. At present 15 species belonging to 13 genera and 5 families are k...

Over the last decades, a sharp decline in wild pollinator abundance and diversity has emerged in the European Union and around the World (IPBES, 2016; Van der Sluijs, 2020). Responding to this challenge, the role of NATURA 2000 protected areas network is of primary importance to safeguard wild pollinators, as highlighted in the revised EU Pollinato...

https://www.gbif.org/dataset/2c38cf8a-f981-4dfb-bc9d-dd2b6fc792ed Waarnemingen.be / observations.be - List of species observed in Belgium is a species checklist dataset published by Natuurpunt and Natagora. Waarnemingen.be (in Dutch, managed by Natuurpunt) and observation.be (in French, managed by Natagora) are the two local Belgian subsites of the...

A wide network of para-taxonomists and citizen science initiatives in Belgium has allowed to intensify contemporary targeted field surveys focusing on elusive/rarer species and their (threatened) habitats, but also on a more widespread monitoring of common species. This has resulted in 24 wild bee species recorded for the first time in Belgium, the...

Fire is a common worldwide disturbance that affected the evolution of life and shaped plant and animal diversity; this is especially applicable in the Mediterranean. In this study, we explore the response to fire of two eusocial bee species of Halictidae, namely, Lasioglossum marginatum (Brullé, 1832) and Lasioglossum malachurum (Kirby, 1802), as t...

Pollinators play a crucial role in ecosystems globally, ensuring the seed production of most flowering plants. They are threatened by global changes and knowledge of their distribution at the national and continental levels is needed to implement efficient conservation actions, but this knowledge is still fragmented and/or difficult to access. As a...

We studied α‐ and β‐diversity of pollinators, flowering plants and plant–pollinator interactions along the altitudinal gradient of Mt. Olympus, a legendary mountain and biodiversity hotspot in Central Greece. We explored 10 study sites located on the north‐eastern slope of the mountain, from 327 to 2596 m a.s.l. Insect surveys were conducted once a...

https://www.gbif.org/dataset/2c38cf8a-f981-4dfb-bc9d-dd2b6fc792ed Waarnemingen.be / observations.be - List of species observed in Belgium is a species checklist dataset published by Natuurpunt and Natagora. Waarnemingen.be (in Dutch) and observation.be (in French) are the two local Belgian subsites of the global observation.org website. The checkl...

New records of 21 species of Conopidae from Greece are presented. Flower-visiting observations are reported for 19 species. Of these, Brachyceraea brevicornis (Loew, 1847) was observed on flowers for the first time.

Scolia hirta and Megascolia maculata are reported for the first time in the Netherlands. These are the first records of the family Scoliidae in the Netherlands. Scoliid wasps are thermophilic and are expected to be reported more often in the future. However, there is an important difference in the origin of both species. While natural migration of...

The decline of pollinator diversity observed worldwide is alarming, as global biodiversity and food safety are highly dependent on pollinators. Conservation measures and prevention strategies are necessary to address this problem. A primary step to this direction is the proper information of both professionals (farmers, beekeepers, etc.) and the ge...

Maintaining the diversity of wild bees is a priority for preserving ecosystem function and promoting stability and productivity of agroecosystems. However, wild bee communities face many threats and beekeeping could be one of them, because honey bees may have a strong potential to outcompete wild pollinators when placed at high densities. Yet, we s...

The genus Pygopleurus includes some of the most important beetle pollinators of the Eastern Mediterranean islands, showing a particular affinity to red-guild flowers. Focussing on the Aegean Archipelago, 75 individuals belonging to five Pygopleurus species were sampled and screened for two mtDNA loci (COI and 16S). The phylogenetic analysis impleme...

Aim We studied bumblebee diversity and bumblebee pollination networks along the altitudinal gradient of Mt. Olympus, a legendary mountain in Central Greece, also known for its exceptional flora. Location Mt. Olympus, Central Greece. Taxon Bombus (Latreille, 1802). Methods We explored 10 study sites located on the north‐eastern slope of the mount...

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean, constitutes a biodiversity hotspot with high rates of plant endemism. The wild bees of the island were studied extensively by the native George Mavromoustakis, a world-renowned bee taxonomist, who collected extensively on the island from 1916 to 1957 and summarised his results in a series of ei...

GBIF occurrence dataset: https://www.gbif.org/dataset/71cfd412-6327-4ec7-8035-d8b2d0509ac5 Waarnemingen.be - Hymenoptera occurrences in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by Natuurpunt. The dataset contains over 260,000 bee, wasp and ant (Hymenoptera) occurrences of 1,188 naturally occurring...

Fire, a frequent disturbance in the Mediterranean, affects pollinator communities. We explored the response of major pollinator guilds to fire severity, across a fire‐severity gradient at different spatial scales. We show that the abundance of all pollinator groups responded to fire severity, and that bees and beetles showed in addition a significa...

Although the effects of fire on the abundance, species diversity and functional traits of pollinators have been substantially studied, this has never been done regarding fire effects at the level of a population. In this study we attempt this by exploring fire effect on the body size of two eusocial bees, Lasioglossum marginatum (Brullé, 1832) and...

The present study is an update to the first Red List of European Bees published in 2014. The additional records are based on (i) comprehensive review of literature; (ii) new data provided by bee specialists in response to the publication of the first Red List; (iii) new developments in taxonomy of European bees including description of new cryptic...

Fire affects diversity and structure of flower-visitor communities. We explored the effect of fire history on the diversity patterns and structure of the flower-visitor guilds (bees, beetles, flies, sawflies, and wasps), across a post-fire regeneration sequence of pine forests in Rhodes Island, Greece. Fire history was defined by fire frequency and...

The majority of studies investigating the effects of landscape composition and configuration on bee populations have been conducted in regions of intensive agricultural production, ignoring regions which are dominated by seminatural habitats, such as the islands of the Aegean Archipelago. In addition, research so far has focused on the landscape im...

The exponential increase of mobile telephony has led to a pronounced increase in electromagnetic fields in the environment that may affect pollinator communities and threaten pollination as a key ecosystem service. Previous studies conducted on model species under laboratory conditions have shown negative effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR)...

The structure of pollination networks is an important indicator of ecosystem stability and functioning. Livestock grazing is a frequent land use practice that directly affects the abundance and diversity of flowers and pollinators and, therefore, may indirectly affect the structure of pollination networks. We studied how grazing intensity affected...

1. Pollinating insects provide important ecosystem services and are influenced by the intensity of grazing. Based on the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis ( IDH ), pollinator diversity is expected to peak at intermediate grazing intensities. However, this hump‐shaped relationship is rarely found. 2. The effect of grazing intensity was tested on f...

Fire is an important and frequent disturbance in Mediterranean-type ecosystems affecting the structure and dynamics of bee communities. We explored the effect of fire history on taxonomic and functional composition of wild bees on Rhodes Island, Greece, using UV-bright pan trap sampling. We carried out a fourth-corner analysis based on Generalized...

The objective of this study was to obtain a biogeographical perspective on the hoverfly genus Merodon (Diptera, Syrphidae) based on data from 32 islands in the Aegean and Ionian archipelagoes vis‐à‐vis the adjacent mainland. In this part of the world, the genus comprises 57 species, out of more than 160 species described worldwide. The importance o...

Several forms or variants have long been recognized in the West Palearctic sweat bee Seladonia smaragdula (Vachal, 1895). Using DNA barcoding and morphological characters, primarily of the male genitalia, these variants are here recognized and described as five new species: S. gemmella Pauly sp. nov., S. submediterranea Pauly sp. nov., S. orientana...

The structure of pollination networks is an important indicator of ecosystem stability and functioning. Livestock grazing is a frequent land use practice that directly affects the abundance and diversity of flowers and pollinators and, therefore, may indirectly affect the structure of pollination networks. Here we studied how grazing intensity affe...

Background/Question/Methods Pollinating insects provide important ecosystem services and the structure of pollination networks is an important indicator of ecosystem stability and functioning. Livestock grazing is a frequent land use practice that directly affects the abundance and diversity of flowers and pollinators, and therefore, may indirectly...

The Eastern Mediterranean is a biodiversity hotspot of global importance. Greece, owing to its geographic particularities and turbulent natural history, shares a large part of this biotic uniqueness. Wild bees and orchids are two groups that show high diversity in the Aegean Archipelago. According to the most recent floristic assessment, 101 orchid...

Analyses of flower‐visitor interaction networks allow application of community‐level information to conservation problems, but management recommendations that ensue from such analyses are not well characterized. Results of modularity analyses, which detect groups of species (modules) that interact more with each other than with species outside thei...

In the framework of the project THALES: The Pollinators of the Aegean, Biodiversity and Threats (2012-2015), 1732 plants were collected from four floristic regions including a total of 20 Aegean islands (Anafi, Chios, Iraklia, Ikaria, Ios, Karpathos, Kea, Kos, Lesvos, Limnos, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Rhodes, Samothrace, Thasos, Thera, Serifos,...

Background/Question/Methods Eriogonum visheri is a regional endemic found only in sparsely-vegetated badlands formation in western North and South Dakota and southeastern Montana, USA. It is thought to be at risk from competition with encroaching exotic species such as Salsola iberica and Melilotus officinalis, especially during the seedling stag...

Synthesis of recent observations of Stenoria analis (Schaum) (Coleoptera, Meloidae) in France and in neighboring regions. - We provide a synthesis of records from France and neighbouring regions concerning Stenoria analis (Schaum), a parasitic beetle of Colletes nests in western Europe. The data gathered indicate that this blister beetle has expand...

New data on Coelioxys alata Förster (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae), its biology and its distribution. - In this article I aim to summarize all records of Coelioxys alata Förster, a rare cuckoo bee species in Europe. In addition some notes on records from Asia and the biology are provided. The habitats where the species is found are briefly discussed f...

New data on the presence of Colletes marginatus Smith (Hymenoptera, Colletidae) on the Belgian coast

Sphex funerarius Gussakovskij new for Belgium (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)