Pollinators are central ecosystem service providers, but research on them in Asia remains incipient on many fronts. With one of the highest human populations in the world, China’s populace is heavily reliant on pollination for food security. Conversely, there are many undescribed species in China, requiring a much stronger taxonomic and systematic foundation in the country and region. Focusing on pollinator bees, we are studying plant-pollinator bees-parasitoid (PPP) systems sampled from three different forest ecosystems to explore population dynamics, species diversity, and species interaction networks. Standard protocols will be also recommended to citizen scientists to gather more data. These efforts will be key to better exploring the ecology and evolution of the Chinese bee fauna.
New Research from China on the Ecology and Evolution of Plant-Pollinator-Parasitoid Systems