Urbanization changes the composition of pollinating insect communities. But who are the winners and losers of this
environmental filter? Vincent Zaninotto and his collaborators attempt to answer this question in an article published
in the journal Insects, comparing the diversity of pollinators in natural environments and in Parisian green spaces.
Our results suggest that V. velutina is a generalist opportunistic predator targeting mostly locally abundant prey. While the species may have an impact on honeybees, its generalist, opportunistic behaviour on abundant insects suggests a minor impact on wild species.
Lire la suite / Read more
Results, published in Communications Biology , suggest that the evolution of a virus integrated into a eukaryotic genome is totally different when it is useful to the organism that carries it.
A species of “murder hornet,” beheads and feeds to its larvae an insect that is very important to, and symbolic of, France: the honeybee.
Lire la suite / Read more
Urban and forest colonies of the ant Temnothorax nylanderi respond differently to pollution?
Lire la suite / Read more
In the city, the seasonal patterns of activity of insect pollinators could be disturbed by the urban microclimate as well as by the presence of ornamental flora. To study this phenomenon, Vincent Zaninotto and his collaborators monitored the activity of insect pollinators in Paris and in the natural environment, from late winter to autumn. In […]
Lire la suite / Read more
We were saddened to learn on this the 1st day of September that our colleague and friend Christian Peeters, CNRS senior scientist at iEES-Paris, had passed away.
Lire la suite / Read more
Social groups consist of individuals that differ from one another, and many studies show that this diversity improves group efficiency. In social insects, size diversity can, for example, improve the efficiency of foraging, nest building, brood rearing and production of young queens. Thus, colonies that re more diverse are generally also more efficient. Romain Honorio […]
Lire la suite / Read more
Researchers studied the genome of wasp species which attack different aphid species, in order to understand which adaptations allow them to get around their hosts’ defenses.
2 Youtube channels were created during the confinement by Christian Peeters, DR CNRS. Secrets of ants Ant Life Secrets of ants Ant Life
Lire la suite / Read more