Ecology and Natural History of Tropical Bees (Cambridge Tropical Biology Series)

Describes the prominent themes in the ecology, natural history, and evolution of bees, and includes discussions on pollinating behavior, natural enemies, reproduction, social behavior, and maintenance of the diversity of tropical communities. This book is the first to draw together these themes, and covers topics as varied as the evolution of obligate sociality and the reproductive diversity of tropical flowering plants. There are many new examples from the author's research on pollination ecology, mimicry, mutualism, coevolution, and competition. Humans have been fascinated by bees for centuries. Bees display a wide spectrum of behaviours and ecological roles that have provided biologists with a vast amount of material for study. Among the types observed are both social and solitary bees, those that either pollinate or destroy flowers, and those that display traits allowing them to survive underwater. Others fly mainly at night, and some build their nests either in the ground or in the tallest rain forest trees. This highly acclaimed book summarises and interprets research from around the world on tropical bee diversity and draws together major themes in ecology, natural history and evolution. The numerous photographs and line illustrations, and the large reference section, qualify this book as a field guide and reference for workers in tropical and temperate research. The fascinating ecology and natural history of these bees will also provide absorbing reading for other ecologists and naturalists. This book was first published in 1989 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 10 1 Introduction......Page 12 2 Foraging and pollination......Page 36 3 Nesting and reproductive biology......Page 172 4 Community ecology......Page 324 Appendix A......Page 401 Appendix B......Page 409 References......Page 432 Subject index......Page 498 Taxonomic index......Page 515 Humans have been fascinated by bees for centuries. Bees display a wide spectrum of behaviours and ecological roles that have provided biologists with a vast amount of material for study. This book, first published in 1989, presents fascinating natural histories and the ecology of the numerous varieties of tropical bees. Information gathered from the remaining intact tropical habitats might seem to deserve special treatment, for such data can be thought to represent precise,finely tuned biological interrelationships. David W. Roubik. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 421-485.