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Saisonale Veränderungen in einer mediterranen Bestäuber-Gemeinschaft

Beschreibung

The National Park of the Gargano in Italy contains a great variety of habitats from the central beech woodland to the Mediterranean maquia. This unique landscape has one of the highest concentrations of wild orchids species in Europe, such as the sexual deceptive Ophrys genus. Unlike other plants, these orchids do not offer rewards to their pollinators. Instead, flowers attract mainly male bees by mimicking females of one hymenopteran species by olfactory, tactile and visual cues. These deceived bees need co-flowering plants to obtain their resources like nectar, and hence Ophrys might also depend on these plants that sustain their pollinators.

In order to identify which plants support these bees, a community study was designed to investigate the plant-pollinator network where Ophrys occurs. The Bosco Isola and Varano Isola in the Gargano National Park are a long extension of dunes composed by Mediterranean scrubs such as Cistus salviifolius, Salvia rosmarinus or Pistacia lentiscus. Between this natural maquia abandoned open fields are found. 

The south of Europe including Italy harbours the highest diversity of bees in Europe because of its warm and dry climate conditions. Only in Italy mainland about 950 species of bees are found. Yet the taxonomy of wild bees is still ongoing. Therefore, determine how the plant-pollinators composition and structure changes along the season it is not only important to answer specific questions but as a basic knowledge that will allow future studies.

  • How do the bee species composition and interactions change along the season?
  • Are there differences between natural habitats and abandoned fields?
Projektzeitraum
Wintersemester 2025/2026
Bewerbungszeitraum
13. bis 27.10.2025
Durchführung
semesterbegleitend
Details zu Projektzeitraum und Durchführung

The sampling was in spring 2024 and 2025 from February to July. Additionally, the Botanical Excursion in the Mediterranean has previously taken place in this research area during March and April. As a result, a reference collection has been compiled.

This project will involve pinning, sorting and identifying bees. After that, the dataset created will be analyzed using statistical methods to answer the project questions. Finally, the results of the project will be summarized in a poster. Exact duration and ECTS can be adapted to specific needs if required.

Studienfach
offen für alle Studienfächer
Betreuende
Maria Pamies Harder
Institut
Institut für Biologie (190) (Pflanzliche Evolutionsbiologie - 190b)
Sprache
englisch
Teilnehmendenanzahl
min. 1, max. 2
Arbeitsaufwand
ca. 180 Stunden pro Teilnehmende:r | 6 ECTS-Punkte

Arbeitsaufwand (Stunden und ggf. ECTS) sind ungefähre Angaben. Die tatsächlich vergebenen ECTS-Punkte ergeben sich aus der tatsächlich geleisteten Arbeit.

 
Für dieses Projekt ist ein Motivationsschreiben des Studierenden erforderlich
Projektart
experimentell
Lernziele

Die Teilnehmende lernen in diesem Projekt:

  • Prepare and identify bee specimens at genus level
  • Manage and organize an insect collection
  • Analyse plant-pollinator networks
  • Desing a scientific poster to communicate the results
Anmerkungen für Studierende

Previous knowledge of insect identification and basic knowledge of Excel and R is appreciated but not necessary.