Anke Dietzsch
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ankedietzsch.bsky.social
Anke Dietzsch
@ankedietzsch.bsky.social
1.3K followers 780 following 72 posts
Bees, plants & dance -
I'm a researcher at the Institute for Bee Protection, Julius Kühn Institute in Brunswick, Germany
agroecology | ecotoxicology | wild bee diversity | plant-pollinator interactions | pollinator monitoring
🇩🇪🇨🇮🇺🇲 views are my own
#JKI 🐝🌱
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Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
habitecture.bsky.social
We discuss various strategies for locating nests of the rare and endangered above-ground nesting bumblebee species Bombus muscorum. Although we did not find any nests, we were able to track bees marked with paper strips for up to 800 m.
@jki-research.bsky.social
@nabu.de

doi.org/10.1111/icad...
Locating nests of endangered bumble bees: Lessons from field trials in northern Germany
Tracking bumble bees to find their nests using coloured strips of paper stuck to their thorax proved to be the most suitable method, while radio transponders were too heavy. Tracking times of up to .....
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
Cool approach to use expert-elicited tree attractiveness scores. Would be could to match them with field-derived data in the future.
January 21, 2026 at 5:05 PM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
Seeing the actual numbers plotted takes the shock and disbelief to the next level...
@wbrazelton.bsky.social
davidho.bsky.social David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 6d
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
January 21, 2026 at 2:27 PM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
Happy to share our latest publication with you. 🧵

Trees are often overlooked as relevant bee forage ressources. Realising that there is relatively little known about bees in flowering tree canopies, we searched for data and methodologies to tackle this gap.

@jki-research.bsky.social
jpollecol.bsky.social JPE - Journal of Pollination Ecology @jpollecol.bsky.social · 8d
FIT for purpose? Sampling Bees in Flowering Canopies with Flight Interception Traps (FITs) by Krahner et al. provides methodological advice on how to best sample pollinators in tree canopies. doi.org/10.26786/192...
January 21, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
nabu.de
🥁 Wer wird Vogel des Jahres 2026? Das digitale Wahllokal hat ab sofort für euch geöffnet und jetzt kommt es auf deine Stimme an. 💌 Waldohreule, Schleiereule, Amsel, Zwergtaucher oder Rebhuhn – Wer wird dieses Jahr an die Spitze flattern? 👉 Jetzt abstimmen auf www.vogeldesjahres.de
September 2, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
joshlukedavis.com
woah this is genuinely, utterly WILD

Ant queens of one species produce males of another species, so she can then mate with them and produce hybrid workers!

This is so gloriously weird I can't quite compute it 🤯🧪🐜
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother
Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 10:09 PM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
This is hot!!
doi.org/10.1016/j.uc...
One of the puzzle pieces to predict future urban bee community composition...
kit.edu Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) @kit.edu · Aug 25
Hitzebelastung in Städten metergenau sichtbar gemacht: Forschende von #KITKarlsruhe und @uni-freiburg.de haben mithilfe von #KI hochauflösend und über lange Zeiträume berechnet, wie sich die #Hitzebelastung in einem Stadtgebiet künftig pro Quadratmeter entwickelt. www.kit.edu/kit/pi_2025_...
Grafische Darstellung der heutigen Hitzeverteilung (linke Bildhälfte) und der Zunahme zum Ende des Jahrhunderts am Beispiel der Stadt Freiburg
August 25, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
beeresearchpapers.bsky.social
Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and wild bee resource competition: how big is this problem?

Spoiler: not a very big problem.

Pike & Rittschof 2025

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

#apidologie #beeresearch #beescience #science #biology #environment #beekeeping #bees
Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and wild bee resource competition: how big is this problem?
Abstract. The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) has been managed by humans for centuries for honey, wax, and most recently, crop pollination. The deep
doi.org
June 18, 2025 at 4:35 AM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
Interesting study by the @isaacslab.bsky.social showing the need for drift-reducing agricultural application techniques in order to mitigate risks for pollinators academic.oup.com/ee/article/5...
entsocamerica.bsky.social Entomological Society of America @entsocamerica.bsky.social · Aug 19
Wildflower plantings near crop fields are a common tool for attracting pollinators, but a new study shows pesticide applications to crops are likely to drift as far as 100 feet into these wildflower zones, potentially harming the very pollinators they're meant to attract.
Study Finds High Pesticide Drift Into Wildflower Buffer Zones Near Crop Fields
Wildflower plantings near crops are a common tool for attracting pollinators, but pesticide drift can harm the very pollinators they're meant to attract.
entomologytoday.org
August 20, 2025 at 12:42 PM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
Great to read this synthesis on how effective promotion measurements for urban pollinators really are! They work! Sadly, there is no data on perennial plantings yet - watch this space.
August 20, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
habrazeau.bsky.social
If you can, please donate to help with funeral costs and supporting her family. RIP Sheila Colla. www.gofundme.com/f/support-sh...
Donate to Support Sheila Colla Through Cancer Treatment, organized by Anna Penner
There is a good chance that you already know Sheila Colla: she is a brillian… Anna Penner needs your support for Support Sheila Colla Through Cancer Treatment
www.gofundme.com
July 8, 2025 at 11:35 PM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
I'd like to see our opinion paper to be a starting point for a wider discussion before monitoring methodology is written in stone.
jki-research.bsky.social Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) @jki-research.bsky.social · Jul 9
The revised EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme #EUPoMS suggests standardised methods, but lacks strong evidence for key choices. The authors from JKI urge clarification on excluding pan traps to maintain scientific integrity and public trust in the scheme.
doi.org/10.26786/192...
tinyurl.com/3rt2ewce
Pan traps are especially useful for sampling bees simultaneously across replicated sites. Photo by Johannes Kaufmann/JKI Variation in floral density may bias pan trap results, but evidence for this bias presented in the revised EUPoMS is not robust. Photo: Institute for Bee Protection/JKI
July 9, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
jki-research.bsky.social
Researchers at our Institute for #Bee Protection are currently collecting data on the occurrence of honeybees and wild bees in agricultural landscapes. Systematic data collection over several years will provide a robust reference for future interval monitoring. #WorldBeeDay
www.julius-kuehn.de/en/bs
Some of the survey sites are located in intensively managed agricultural areas. Just in these locations, the field margins show an unexpectedly diverse flora during the course of the year (note the difference between end of March and beginning of May 2025). At this site, located in the Salzland district of Saxony-Anhalt, the halictid bee (Lasioglossum xanthopus) visits flowers of field bugloss (Lycopsis arvensis), among others. Photo: Dr Severin Polreich/JKI Researchers at the JKI Institute for Bee Protection collect pan-trap samples. The spectrum of bee species and other flower-visiting insects is determined using DNA metabarcoding later on. Photo: Dr Severin Polreich/JKI Hedges are important landscape elements, providing not only food but also nesting opportunities and sun-exposed surface for warming up and resting (here on field maple, Acer campestre), which may also have a positive effect on the pollination activity of bees in the cooler spring. Photo: Dr Severin Polreich/JKI
May 20, 2025 at 10:06 AM
ankedietzsch.bsky.social
Great to have you here @jki-research.bsky.social
jki-research.bsky.social Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) @jki-research.bsky.social · Apr 30
👋🥳 The #JKI team, with more than 1,300 staff members, says “Hi” to the #PlantScience community here! We are looking forward to presenting the #research from our 18 specialised institutes across 9 sites in Germany.
🔬 Discover more: www.julius-kuehn.de/en/structure
🎥 youtu.be/ne4yfS3vYNs
@bmel.de
May 10, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
willleohawkes.bsky.social
Ok, so I know all bees are incredible creatures, and it's a brave human who ranks them. But surely this blue carpenter bee would be near the top?
This is Xylocopa tumida and she is gorgeous. 1/3
March 1, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
ibartomeus.bsky.social
[new paper] EuPPollNet: A European Database of Plant-Pollinator Networks
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Another wonderful paper of @joseblanuza.bsky.social making open more than >1500 networks and looking at their properties. Come for the data, stay for the cool figures!
EuPPollNet: A European Database of Plant‐Pollinator Networks
Motivation Pollinators play a crucial role in maintaining Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. However, rapid human-induced environmental changes are compromising the long-term persistence of plant-pol...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 4, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
jpollecol.bsky.social
2025 starts with a methodology publication by Ștefan et al. on Utilising affordable smartphones and open-source time-lapse photography for pollinator image collection and annotation - Happy new year!
doi.org/10.26786/192...
January 10, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
bsggoettingen.bsky.social
Kürzlich ist ein Wildbienen-Artikel erschienen 🐝🐝

Autor*innen: Thomas Fechtler, Hanna Gardein (Julius-Kühn-Institut), Felix Kirsch @thuenen.de, Friederike Grau & Annika Haß @funcagroeco.bsky.social @unigoettingen.bsky.social & Fionn Pape.

▶️ www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Cover Artenfocus Titel Wildbienen-Artikel
January 22, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
molly.wiki
The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information. Why do they hate it so much?
Elon Musk and the right’s war on Wikipedia
The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information.
www.citationneeded.news
January 2, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
jeffollerton.bsky.social
A deep dive into an old box file has unexpectedly resulted in a possible answer to the question: what was the first online database of plant-pollinator interactions?

jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/01/07/w...

#bees #pollinators #biodiversity #ecology #botany #History
Was this the first online database of plant-pollinator interactions?
Over the past few years, the ways in which we collate and use large databases of plant-pollinator interactions, and make them publicly available according to FAIR data principles, has been much on …
jeffollerton.co.uk
January 7, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
sciworthy.bsky.social
Butterflies and moths use The (electrostatic) Force to transfer pollen to and from nearby flowers. New on Sciworthy!
#SciComm #ecology #ecosystems
sciworthy.com/butterflies-...
Butterflies use electrostatic force to pollinate
Two biologists showed that butterflies and moths generate enough electrostatic charge to attract pollen grains from nearby flowers, but they might attract predators in the process.
sciworthy.com
January 6, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
nicrodemo.bsky.social
A biting buzz: Thanks to Sigma Xi and New Scientist for covering our work on how #bees bite flowers to transmit vibrations to flowers during buzz pollination! www.americanscientist.org/article/a-bi...
A Biting Buzz
Bees transfer vibrations better and increase pollen rewards when they grasp flowers with their mandibles.
www.americanscientist.org
January 18, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
catrinwestphal.bsky.social
New study: #CropDiversification can help pollinators without taking land out of agricultural production, but only some #pollinator species may benefit. We highlight mechanisms on the spatial
and temporal #diversity of crops. Led by Thijs Fijen @w-u-r.bsky.social
Crop diversification for pollinator conservation - Landscape Ecology
Context Intensive agriculture drives insect decline impacting insect-mediated ecosystem services that support production. Crop diversification shows promise in increasing crop productivity and enhanci...
link.springer.com
January 14, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
ecoinvasions.bsky.social
"Fieldwork-based research and education in ecology are under multiple threats and are progressively declining."

This issue is linked to the erosion of natural history training in general.
January 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Anke Dietzsch
cmhmaliani.bsky.social
An inspirational study that everyone interested in the thermal ecology of bees and their responses to environmental warming should read. I'll most likely borrow some of the elegant methods used here, and put them to work with some wild bees next summer 😉

doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
Bees remain heat tolerant after acute exposure to desiccation and starvation
Summary: Sublethal desiccation exposure and short-term starvation do not significantly affect heat tolerance in honey bees and sweat bees.
doi.org
December 19, 2024 at 7:10 PM