num_pages: 248
description: Bumblebees have always been favored subjects for scientific study, but research has accelerated in recent years. Many new discoveries have been made with regard to their ecology and social behavior. The last twenty years has seen the commercialization of bumblebee breeding or pollination,and the invasion of new parts of the globe by bumblebee species, with potentially far-reaching consequences. Despite this, there is a great deal that we do not know about bumblebees. Their nests are hard to locate, so that those of some species have never been found. Fundamental aspects of thebehavior of many species, such as mating, have never been seen. Bumblebees are undergoing a widespread decline, but this has not yet caught the attention of the general public to the same extent as, for example, the plight of rare butterflies or birds. But bumblebees are probably of far greaterecological and economic importance than these groups because the pollination of crops and the survival of many wildflowers depend upon them. This book attempts to draw attention to the importance of conserving dwindling bumblebee populations. It synthesizes the current state of knowledge of thebehavior and ecology of these fascinating and charismatic organisms, and identifies some of the many gaps that remain in hope of stimulating further research.
language: English
title: Bumblebees: Ecology and Behaviour
titlecomplete: Bumblebees: Ecology and Behaviour
genres: Nonfiction, Science, Nature
ratings_count: 28
publisher: Oxford University Press