Trends in Ecology & Evolution – Volume 36, Issue 7

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Many different pollinators often visit the same flower, as seen in this image where a buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris), a red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and a small sweat bee (Lasioglossum sp.) are sharing a plume thistle Cirsium rivulare flower.  On pages 623-636, Willem Proesmans and colleagues discuss how sharing of flowers in this way is a potential conduit for insect pathogens. Pathogen dynamics are shaped by both the plant-pollinator network and species traits, and will be affected by global change.

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Photo credit: Hajnalka Szentgyörgyi