Exploring nature's pharmacy for pollinator healt

Bees are primary pollinators for ~90% of flowering plants and ~75% of crops 1, 2, 3. Thus, a healthy pollinator community is central to conserving biodiversity, food security and, human health.

Insect pollinators are in decline as a result of land use change, agricultural intensification, changing climate and parasites and diseases threatening pollination services4,5 . To address this challenge we propose to study natural processes that can mitigate the burden of parasites and diseases. Most flowering plants reward pollinators through the provision of nectar and excess pollen.

The majority of research to date has viewed these resources simply as a source of energy, via carbohydrates in nectar, and nutrition, through proteins in the pollen, for insect pollinators. Crop pollinators rely on these resources, which are largely provided by non-crop plants, to maintain population health.

However, recent work has shown that nectar and pollen also contribute to pollinator health through the provision of other nutritional (e.g., lipids and minerals)6,7 and medicinal compounds8 for bees.

For example, we showed that secondary chemicals produced in the floral nectar of heather (Calluna vulgaris) and lime trees (Tilia spp) can reduce and control parasitic infection in an important crop pollinator, the buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris)9,10.

This, together with other studiese.g., 11 suggests that plants may have evolved to act as a natural pharmacy for their insect pollinators.

This research program will test this hypothesis through a suite of laboratory and field experiments with a range of bee pollinators with the ultimate aim of providing advice for landscape management that can include these natural nectar pharmacies for bees