About
76
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Introduction
Dr Kit Prendergast is a native bee ecologist and science communicator. Her PhD involved investigating the impact of honeybees on native bees and pollination networks , and the impact of urbanisation on native bees. Dr Kit's research ranges from pollination ecology, to native bee ecology and behaviour, citizen science, critiquing methods for surveying pollinators, undertaking biodiversity assessments. She is a renowned science communicator, performing under the persona of 'Bee Babette.'
Current institution
Additional affiliations
March 2014 - present
Position
- Tutor and Lab Demonstrator
Description
- Animal Populations Ecological Processes Human and Primate Social Organisation
Publications
Publications (76)
Native bee populations are generally in decline, and although their conservation needs are recognised, habitat requirements for the majority of species remain unknown. Many bee species construct nests underground, including the native Australian bee Lasioglossum (Homalictus) dotatum . However, like most ground‐nesting bees, their nesting ecology, p...
The project Bee hotels to boost bees after bushfires supported the recovery of native bee populations by installing artificial nesting substrates (bee hotels) in areas of high biodiversity value that were impacted by the 2019/20 bushfires. This was achieved through an Australia-wide citizen science effort, as well as through intensive monitoring of...
Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α‐diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e., γ‐diversity), either due to reduced β‐diversity amplifying diversity loss or increased...
The life cycle, nesting behaviour and diet breadth of the resin bee Megachile ( Hackeriapis ) tosticauda (Cockerell) are described for the first time. Microscopic imaging of the larval provisions and pollen from the scopa showed that Megachile tosticauda from Adelaide, South Australia, is narrowly oligolectic and specialised on Eucalyptus pollen. P...
Climate change effects, including temperature extremes and water stress, cause abiotic stress in plants. These changes directly affect flowering and the flower reward system for pollinators, influencing plant-pollinator interactions and ultimately seed production in flowering plants. Here, we tested the effects of water deprivation on the behavior...
Context
A theoretical paradigm proposes that certain species can serve as ‘keystone species’ or ‘magnets’, being particularly important for biodiversity.
Aims
We present evidence that in the context of supporting Indigenous native bees, this is indeed the case for the tree Corymbia calophylla (Marri), a Myrtaceae endemic to southwest Western Austr...
The intricate relationship between flowering Plants and pollinators is fundamental to crop production and ecosystem health. In the present study, we investigate a novel interaction aspect by examining the behavioral responses of pollen-stressed honeybee foragers (Apis mellifera) and their impact on the flowering phenology of tomato plants (Solanum...
The discourse around the complexity and memorability of scientific names versus the simplicity and accessibility of vernacular names is a long- standing one, frequently raised by naturalists, science communicators,and conservationists. Some of these professionals have advocated for the adoption of an alternative, unregulated naming system that heav...
Orchids are globally threatened by habitat loss and poaching. In this context, we present suggestions to maximize the gathered scientific information without compromising the continuity of orchid populations: 1. To keep population coordinates in secrecy and avoid unnecessary or careless postings on social media; 2. To acquire and carry valid, worki...
Figure 3. A suggested flowchart for researchers studying Orchidaceae. Notice that the collection of a few whole specimens is only suggested in cases where there are reasons to think that the plants belong to as yet undescribed species.
Figure 7. A plate of Bipinnula montana (Chloraeinae) in the LCDP style, assembled with photos made in Figure 4. A. (in the background) Habit; B. and C. Flower in frontal and lateral view, respectively; D. Dissected perianth; E. Column with labellum articulated at its base and dissected ovarium; F. Column and labellum in dorsal view; G. Column in do...
Figure 4. A simple protocol for optimizing orchid collection for research purposes without compromising the survival of the plant individuals or populations. Step 1: a complete photographic record in the field, complemented with notes. Step two: take just the necessary samples for vouchering. The inflorescence and a few leaves may be enough in terr...
Figure 8. Orchid pollinators. Only animals able to dislodge and deposit pollinia are to be considered pollinators. Insect pollinators are to be collected (vouchered) in moderate numbers. A. Syrphid fly with pollinaria of Prescottia densiflora (Brongn.) Lindl. onto its proboscis B. and C. Augochlorini Halictidae bees with pollinaria of Cyclopogon el...
The ever-increasing development of citizen science in the 21st cen- tury, fostered by emerging technologies and ‘the internet of people’ (Bonney et al., 2014; Finger et al., 2023; Newman et al., 2011, 2017), demonstrates that the participatory involvement of non-professional volunteer citizens with an interest in natural history is often crucial fo...
Plant-pollinator interactions play a vital role in the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem function. Geographical variation in environmental factors can influence the diversity of pollinators and thus, affect the structure of pollination networks. Given the current global climate change, understanding the variation of pollination network stru...
Since mid-1990s, concerns have increased about a human-induced "pollination crisis." Threats have been identified to animals that act as plant pollinators, plants pollinated by these animals, and consequently human well-being. Threatening processes include loss of natural habitat, climate change, pesticide use, pathogen spread, and introduced speci...
Reflecting the state of invertebrate taxonomy globally, many bee taxa in Australia are in need of revision, and this includes the most species-rich endemic subfamily, the Euryglossinae. In addition to undescribed species, many euryglossine species have been described from only a single sex. Over 30 taxonomic papers on euryglossines have been publis...
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...
With urbanisation leading to loss of nesting resources, and increasing public interest in helping bees, bee hotels (trap-nests) are becoming popularised. However, their success is relatively understudied. The influence of habitat type in determining occupancy and emergence is also poorly known. Over two years across 7 bushland remnant and 7 residen...
Context
Identifying floral resources preferred by bee assemblages is important for their conservation.
Aims
Here, I assess the association of flowering plant community composition, with that of honey bees and native bee abundance and diversity. I investigate flower preferences in terms of plant origin (native or exotic), and evaluate niche breadth...
Soil ammonium toxicity can decrease plant growth, and many crop species have low resistance to ammonium, including canola, an economically important crop. Different genotypes may differ in their resistance to ammonium toxicity, and therefore determining if there are genotypes that exhibit variation in their ability to tolerate soil ammonium is a re...
Animal pollinators are vital for the reproduction of ~90% of flowering plants. However,
many of these pollinating species are experiencing declines globally, making effective
pollinator monitoring methods more important than ever before. Pollinators can
leave DNA on the flowers they visit, and metabarcoding of these environmental DNA
(eDNA) traces...
Anthropogenic climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing biodiversity presently and into the future. Climate change, through increasing temperatures, and extreme events including droughts and fires, can be predicted to impact pollinators through a number of mechanisms, including altered phenologies and distributions, which in turn may...
With recent publicized pollinator declines, citizens are becoming motivated to design gardens that support pollinators. As a result, garden centers have become a venue for advancing pollinator conservation, especially in urbanised areas. However, there is a paucity of evidence-based guidelines on what plant species or plant characteristics attract...
A new species Leioproctus zephyr (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) is described from both sexes. Leioproctus zephyr sp. nov. is remarkable in featuring a large longitudinal ridge on the clypeus. This diagnostic morphological feature present in both sexes, along with various other distinctive characters including the male genitalia, female hind-tibial spur,...
Bipartite networks of flowering plants and their visitors (potential pollinators) are increasingly being used in studies of the structure and function of these ecological interactions. Whilst they hold much promise in understanding the ecology of plant–pollinator networks and how this may be altered by environmental perturbations, like land-use cha...
This is an eletter to comment on Ma's letter (Science 377, 6610).
Urbanisation modifies natural landscapes resulting in built-up space that is covered by buildings or hard surfaces and managed green spaces that often substitute native plant species with exotics. Some native bee species have been able to adapt to urban environments, foraging and reproducing in these highly modified areas. However, little is known...
During the main COVID-19 global pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18° North in Norwa...
Biodiversity is in crisis, and insects are no exception. To understand insect population and community trends globally, it is necessary to identify and synthesize diverse datasets representing different taxa, regions, and habitats. The relevant literature is, however, vast and challenging to aggregate. The Entomological Global Evidence Map (EntoGEM...
In Australia, the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) is an exotic, abundant, super-generalist species. Introduced two centuries ago, it thrives in the absence of many diseases adversely impacting honeybees elsewhere. Australia’s native bees may be vulnerable to competition with honeybees, leading to reduced abundances, reproductive output or even l...
Recently, native bee fauna has been observed utilising anthropogenic materials as nesting substrates. Here we report the novel observation of a native solitary cavity-nesting bee, Megachile (Hackeriapis) oblonga (Smith, 1879) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae) nesting in man-made, but honey bee drawn waxed frames. This represents a unique in...
Loss of natural habitat through land‐use change threatens bees. Urbanisation is a major, increasing form, of habitat loss, and a novel, pervasive form of disturbance known to impact bee diversity and abundance in a variety of often inconsistent ways.
We conducted a comprehensive, semi‐quantitative review, involving 215 studies, on responses of bees...
Urbanisation modifies natural landscapes resulting in built-up space and managed green spaces that often substitute native plant species with exotics. Some native bee species have been able to adapt to urban environments, foraging and reproducing in these highly modified areas. However, little is known on how the foraging ecology of native bees is...
Native bees are declining in many regions, often associated with loss of natural habitat. Urbanisation replaces natural vegetation with a highly-modified landscape, where residential gardens are a major component of urban greenspace. While many cities retain native vegetation remnants within the urban matrix, these are often small, isolated and deg...
It is now clear that the routine embedding of experiments into conservation practice is essential for creating reasonably comprehensive evidence of the effectiveness of actions. However, an important barrier is the stage of identifying testable questions that are both useful but also realistic to carry out without a major research project. We ident...
The field of bioaesthetics seeks to understand how modern humans may have first developed art appreciation and is informed by considering a broad range of fields including painting, sculpture, music and the built environment. In recent times there has been a diverse range of art and communication media representing bees, and such work is often link...
Urbanisation is a prominent and increasing form of land-use change, with the potential to disrupt the interactions between pollinators such as bees and the flowering plants that they visit. This in turn may cause cascading local extinctions and have consequences for pollination services. Network approaches go beyond simple metrics of abundance and...
The 2019–2020 Australian Black Summer wildfires demonstrated that single events can have widespread and catastrophic impacts on biodiversity, causing a sudden and marked reduction in population size for many species. In such circumstances, there is a need for conservation managers to respond rapidly to implement priority remedial management actions...
The majority of angiosperms require animal pollination for reproduction and insects are the dominant group of animal pollinators. Bees are considered one of the most important and abundant insect pollinators. Research into bee behaviour and foraging decisions has typically centred on managed eusocial bee species, Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestri...
False accusations and misinterpretations of the literature by Saunders et al. (2021) are a disservice to rigorous scientific discourse. Finally, we are disappointed that Saunders et al (2021) read our paper as an attack on their work, rather than as an effort to improve the science around bee surveys in Australia
The European honeybee Apis mellifera is a highly successful, abundant species and has been introduced into habitats across the globe. As a supergeneralist species, the European honeybee has the potential to disrupt pollination networks, especially in Australia, whose flora and fauna have co-evolved for millions of years. The role of honeybees in po...
Research disciplines in science have historically developed in silos but are increasingly multidisciplinary. Here, we assessed how the insect ecology literature published in ecological and entomological journals has developed over the last 20 years and which topics have crossed discipline boundaries. We used structural topic modelling to assess res...
There is an increased interest in conducting studies on pollinators – especially wild bees – in Australia, as well as abroad. We welcome this increased research attention, however we are concerned by poor methods in the sampling techniques used, and the poor taxonomic treatment of specimens. We explicitly highlight these two issues, discuss the imp...
'Creating a Haven for Native Bees' is a book by Dr Kit Prendergast, the Bee Babette. It provides evidence-based information about native bees, their life-cycles, how to create nesting substrates (bee hotels), and lists the best bee-friendly flora.
European honey bees have been introduced across the globe and may compete with native bees for floral resources. Compounding effects of urbanization and introduced species on native bees are, however, unclear. Here, we investigated how honey bee abundance and foraging patterns related to those of native bee abundance and diversity in residential ga...
Engaging school‐age children in activities involving ‘real‐world’ science and interacting with scientific researchers can promote an interest in appreciating and understanding the natural world and the scientific method. Here, we describe a project involving five female early‐career and PhD researchers who facilitated a citizen science project with...
This report documents research on suburban street verge gardens in metropolitan Perth, Australia. In this report, we refer to street verges, or nature strips, are those areas of land that lie between the road reserve, and the front boundary of a residential property. Roadside vegetation on street verges can play a key role in providing greenspace a...
The nesting habits of many Australian native bees are poorly known, with observations of nests being few and far in between. Here, I report three independent nesting aggregations of a native colletid bee Leioproctus (Leioproctus) plumosus, accompanied by videos of its nesting behaviour and photographs of its nesting substrate. These discoveries wer...
Apples are a major crop globally, including in Tasmania (Australia)-known as 'the Apple Isle' owing to the key role of apples in Tasmania's history and economy. Most apple cultivars are obligate entomophilous species, and fruit quantity, quality and economic value are enhanced under insect pollination. Whilst the introduced European honey bee (Apis...
Native bee research suffers from poor methods in the sampling techniques used, and the poor taxonomic treatment of specimens. The issues associated with poor sampling methods and taxonomic resolution are problems facing biodiversity and ecological research as a whole, but are particularly prevalent with native bee research. We explicitly highlight...
Globalisation has increased the occurrence of species being introduced outside of their natural range. The African carder bee, Pseudoanthidium (Immanthidium) repetitum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), is one such species. P. repetititum was first recorded in Australia in 2000 in Queensland (north-east Australia), and rapidly spread down the east coast...
Many bee species are declining globally, but to detect trends and monitor bee assemblages, robust sampling methods are required. Numerous sampling methods are used, but a critical review of their relative effectiveness is lacking. Moreover, evidence suggests the relative effectiveness of sampling methods depends on habitat, yet efficacy in urban ar...
Plastic is pervasive across ecosystems, with polystyrene being a common plastic synthetic material used in buildings. Although polystyrene is used in hive construction for European honeybees and managed megachilids, cavity-nesting colletids have never been documented to nest in such materials. Here, observations of the solitary native bee Hylaeus (...
"Abuzz About Dawson's Burrowing Bee : a travel log by the Bee Babette, about her quest to find Amegilla (Asarapoda) dawsoni" is a book filled with the musings, observations, and fascinating factoids of Kit Prendergast on her roadtrip to see the world's most wonderful and wicked of bees. In this 80+ page book you'll be amazed by the beauty of these...
This article reports observations of nesting by Euryglossina (Euryglossina) perpusilla Cockerell, 1910 in preformed cavities in a Banksia attenuata tree in an urban bushland remnants.
Bees require floral resources in the form of pollen and nectar for food but, in addition, many cavity-nesting species require other plant resources for nesting materials, which might come from plants on which they do not forage for food. This paper records the habitual use of dry flowers and indumentum from tomentose floral bracts of Banksia as nes...
We report three new host-parasite relationships observed during an extensive trap-nest survey of native bees in Perth, Western Australia during 2016-2017. The brood of Megachile apicata Smith was parasitised by a native ectoparasitic bee fly, Anthrax incomptus Walker and the bee offspring that developed to adulthood from the same nest being host to...
Behaviours of the Western Australian endemic bee, Meroglossa rubricata Smith 1879 (Colletidae: Hylaeinae) at bee blocks in the urbanised region of southwest Western Australia are documented. Observations of co-habitation between individuals are described, and antagonistic interactions between a female M. rubricata with a female megachilid at bee bl...
Rhynchium superbum Saussure,1852 is an attractive potter wasp (family Vespidae, subfamily Eumenidae) native to the eastern states of Australia (Photo 1, Photo
3). In recent years observations of this wasp have been reported from Western Australia
(Houston, 2016).
The Flowerpot or Brahminy Blindsnake Indotyphlops
braminus is the only recorded parthenogenetic snake. While
originally from South-East Asia, it now has a broad
distribution due to dispersal by humans. This dispersal has
been aided by the species’ reproductive biology, since a
single female can establish a new population, and by its
frequent use of...
Hylaeus (Hylaeorhiza) nubilosus (Smith) is a common, widespread, native bee endemic to the eastern States of Australia. It is recorded from several, mostly suburban, sites in the Perth region of southwestern Western Australia and appears to be well established. The species nests in abandoned mud wasp nests in synathropic situations and might have b...
Domestic horses and ponies communicate using visual and auditory signals. It has been reported that equines can respond to visual cues in object-choice tests, but utilization of auditory cues, alone or associated with visual cues, has not be investigated. Effect of equine breed type in object-choice selection is unknown. Using object-choice tests,...
Australia’s digging mammals represent allogenic ecosystem engineers
and are keystone species. Their bioturbation activities create, destroy,
maintain, or modify their abiotic environment, which feeds-back
upon the biota and has profound effects influencing ecosystem
health. The beneficial role of Australian digging mammals, many
now threatened with...
Despite once being described as common, digging mammal species have been lost from the Australian landscape over the last 200 years. Around half of digging mammal species are now extinct or under conservation threat, and the majority of extant species have undergone marked range contractions.
Our aim is to identify the role of digging mammals in ec...
Questions
Question (1)
Whilst a mesopredator is typically a less-specialized predator at lower trophic level than the top apex predator, and they tend to be smaller than top predators, and they tend to be medium-sized and smaller, Prugh et al. state a mesopredator should be defined regardless of its size or taxonomy. I was wondering if anyone knew of an example of a mesopredator that was smaller than the apex predator in the system?
