Julia Osterman

University of Gothenburg | GU · Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences

Context Intensive agriculture drives insect decline impacting insect-mediated ecosystem services that support production. Crop diversification shows promise in increasing crop productivity and enhancing ecosystem services, however, the impact on biodiversity conservation, particularly of pollinators, is unclear. Objectives Here, we synthesize the...

One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is the conservation of biodiversity. Human-influenced landscapes often negatively affect pollinator health and diversity at various scales resulting in limiting pollination services, which is crucial for our food security and the maintenance of biodiversity. SPHERE is an innovative Master course th...

Insect-mediated pollination is crucial for global production of multiple pollinator-dependent crops, including high-value crops like sweet and sour cherry. In the face of increasing agricultural demand and continued pollinator decline, it is essential to identify targeted management strategies to safeguard pollination services. Hence, we performed...

Wild bees are important pollinators for sweet cherry. New research conducted in Belgium and Germany now concluded that wild bees, such as bumblebees and mason bees, can do even more. They can have a positive effect on the pollination contribution of honeybees. In this way, wild bees have a double positive effect, namely being excellent pollinators...

Wild bees are important pollinators for sweet cherry. New research conducted in Belgium and Germany now concluded that wild bees, such as bumblebees and mason bees, can do even more. They can have a positive effect on the pollination contribution of honeybees. In this way, wild bees have a double positive effect, namely being excellent pollinators...

Managed bee species provide essential pollination services that contribute to food security worldwide. However, managed bees face a diverse array of threats and anticipating these, and potential opportunities to reduce risks, is essential for the sustainable management of pollination services. We conducted a horizon scanning exercise with 20 expert...

An essential prerequisite to safeguard pollinator species is characterisation of the multifaceted diversity of crop pollinators and identification of the drivers of pollinator community changes across biogeographical gradients. The extent to which intensive agriculture is associated with the homogenisation of biological communities at large spatial...

Mason bees (Osmia spp.) are efficient fruit tree pollinators that can be encouraged to occupy and breed in artificial nesting material. In sweet cherry orchards, they are occasionally used as an alternative managed pollinator as a replacement for or in addition to honey bees (Apis mellifera). Yet, the lack of practical guidelines on management prac...

Bees are under threat from agricultural intensification, and species which are pollen specialists (oligolectic) are thought to have declined disproportionately compared to pollen generalists (polylectic). When assessing the risks of dietary pesticide (plant protection products) exposure to non-target beneficial insects such as wild bees, effects on...

Bee species are thought to vary in their pollination efficiency, but they are rarely compared, particularly in the tropics. Here we determined the role in the pollination of 13 native bee species (Apis mellifera and 12 other wild bee species) when visiting pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) flowers across two growing seasons in Cameroon. Using observations...

published in Bienen & Natur

Neonicotinoids are systemic pesticides when applied as a seed-treatment, meaning their active compounds can be found in all plant parts including nectar and pollen, potentially threatening bees. In addition to direct effects on bees, exposure to this type of insecticide might promote pathogens and parasites of bees as neonicotinoids have been shown...

published in BWagrar

Mitigating pollinator declines in agriculturally dominated landscapes to safeguard pollination services requires the involvement of farmers and their willingness to adopt pollinator-friendly management. However, farmer knowledge, perceptions, and actions to support on-farm pollinators and their alignment with science-based knowledge and recommendat...

Cultivation of pollinator-dependent crops has expanded globally, increasing our reliance on insect pollination. This essential ecosystem service is provided by a wide range of managed and wild pollinators whose abundance and diversity are thought to be in decline, threatening sustainable food production. The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is am...

Over the past two decades, the cultivated area of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L. or OSR), a mass-flowering crop, has markedly increased in Europe in response to bioenergy demands. As well as representing a major shift in floral composition across the landscape, mass-flowering OSR may alter pollination services to other simultaneously blooming crop...

Bees and flowering plants are two closely interacting groups of organisms. Habitat loss and fragmentation associated with urbanisation are major threats to both partners. Yet how and why bee and floral richness and diversity co-vary within the urban landscape remain unclear. Here, we sampled bees and flowering plants in urban green spaces to invest...

Interactions between multiple stressors have been implicated in elevated honeybee colony losses. Here, we extend our landscape-scale study on the effects of placement at clothianidin seed-treated oilseed rape fields on honeybees with an additional year and new data on honeybee colony development, swarming, mortality, pathogens and immune gene expre...

Neonicotinoids are implicated in bee declines and laboratory studies imply that they impair the bee immune system, thereby precipitating a rise in pathogen levels. To establish whether such synergisms reduce bee performance in real-world agricultural landscapes, we analysed the microbial composition of the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) samples from...