Kaz Ohashi
@kazohashilab.bsky.social
Pollinator foraging behavior & floral evolution | Assistant Professor @UofTsukuba | AE @jpollecol.bsky.social | Author of “Trade-off mitigation” paper (Biol Rev 2021): bit.ly/TradeoffMitigation | ohashilab.com
Just finished reading "Our Fragile Moment” by @michaelemann.bsky.social. A fascinating journey through Earth’s climate history, feedbacks, hysteresis, & their complex interactions, with a message of urgency & agency. Thanks to the translators for making this accessible to Japanese readers!
I came across a mating pair of Japanese Oakblue (Narathura japonica) during my morning walk. A phone pic, and no color enhancement or adjustment---this is exactly how they looked. The iridescent blue shimmer in the morning light was simply stunning! #Butterflies
Although this white paper focuses on the EU, the idea of pollinator stewardship is globally relevant. This is a conversation we should be having everywhere, not only in Europe. #Ecology #Conservation #PollinatorStewardship #Pollinators zenodo.org/records/2071...
Towards pollinator stewardship in all policies: Policy incoherence in the EU is a major barrier to pollinator restoration
Joint White Paper from Horizon Europe-funded projects Butterfly, VALOR, PollinERA, WildPosh, AGRI4POL, ProPollSoil, RestPoll, and Safeguard Executive summary Pollinators are critical for Europe’s resi...
zenodo.org
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Generalist passerine birds perform a functional role as pollinators in temperate Europe
Nectar-feeding birds are effective pollinators. In temperate Europe, songbirds visit flowers but lack specialist traits, so functional pollination has been discounted. We use observations, pollen ide...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Even morphologically similar pollinators carry distinct pollen assemblages
Pollinators are commonly classified into functional groups based on similarities in morphology and behavior, under the assumption that such groupings reflect comparable contributions to plant reproduc...
eurekalert.org
Isn’t there a difference between evaluating the quality of a paper and ranking papers against one another? In particular, assessing originality seems far more difficult than assessing validity, as it requires a deep understanding of a field’s history and context.
Oded Rechavi@odedrechavi.bsky.social · last mo.Gloves are off! TODAY WE RELEASE THE 1% A list of the year’s very best papers 👇 (see thread)
I just returned from two back-to-back conferences. Students, I noticed that a lot of your slide decks had an oddly similar layout structure and I was able to confirm in conversations that these were AI-generated/assisted. Some thought about this for your own professional development: 🧵
Great to see elephant hawk moths (Deilephila elpenor) back in our yard, enjoying some fresh nectar from gardenia flowers! #teammoth #Pollinators
We (me and @njdowdy.bsky.social) are hiring a PhD student! Come work with us! We seek a PhD student to investigate the evolution of acoustic behavior in Lepidoptera within a comparative evolutionary framework... Job closes this week! Apply ASAP! njdowdy.gitlab.io/balogh-fello...
Kenneth F. Balogh Graduate Student Fellowship
A PhD position investigating the evolution of acoustic behavior in Lepidoptera, co-advised by Dr. Nicolas J. Dowdy (Milwaukee Public Museum) and Dr. Chelsea Cook (Marquette University). Apply by June ...
njdowdy.gitlab.io
Our new paper out! By comparing body pollen carried by diverse insect pollinators visiting the same Ligustrum flowers, we found striking variation not only among major pollinator groups, but also within them — even between males and females of the same bumble bee species. Free view: rdcu.be/fj68l
Heterospecificity of body pollen varies across and within trait-based groups of pollinators
rdcu.be
Kaz Ohashi@kazohashilab.bsky.social · 3mo agoHappy to share that our latest research, led by Kohei Terada, "Heterospecificity of body pollen varies across and within trait-based groups of pollinators," has just been published in Arthropod-Plant Interactions. Read here (free online view): rdcu.be/fj68l or doi.org/10.1007/s118...
Nearly complete global phylogeny of all 289 bumble-bee spp.— a large-scale synthesis combining nuclear genes, COI, genomes, and ancient DNA into a single BEAST2 framework. #Bees #Bombus
Paul Williams@paulwilliamsnhm.bsky.social · 3mo agoNew evolutionary tree for all of the world's bumblebee species, from (1) slow-evolving nuclear genes, (2) fast-evolving mitochondrial genes, and (3) results from genomic data, to provide a complete starting point for comparative studies of all bumblebees www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Happy to share that our latest research, led by Kohei Terada, "Heterospecificity of body pollen varies across and within trait-based groups of pollinators," has just been published in Arthropod-Plant Interactions. Read here (free online view): rdcu.be/fj68l or doi.org/10.1007/s118...
Peter H. Raven, co-author of "Escape and Radiate" coevolution with Paul Ehrlich, and then President and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden for almost four decades, passed away April 25: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/peter-raven
Remembering Dr. Peter H. Raven
missouribotanicalgarden.org
Just saw a queen Bombus diversus diversus looking for a nest site. Lady, you brightened my day! #Bees
【注目プレスリリース】先んずれば花色を制す ―「先客」を確保した地味な花は派手な花にも負けずハチを惹きつける― / 京都大学,筑波大学 https://research-er.jp/articles/view/154063
先んずれば花色を制す ―「先客」を確保した地味な花は派手な花にも負けずハチを惹きつける―
2026.03.16 京都大学,筑波大学 プレスリリース 概要川口利奈 工学研究科講師、大橋一晴 筑波大学講師、徳永幸彦 同准教授、小沼明弘 農業環境技術研究所 主任...
research-er.jp
Congratulations, Kentaro on this great achievement and on earning your PhD!
Functional Ecology@funecology.bsky.social · 4mo ago⭐️Shortlisted for the 2025 Haldane Prize!⭐️ Kentaro Takagi investigated realised flower constancy as an adaptive strategy where pollinators balance the effort of recalling information with travel costs in various environments🐝 buff.ly/ITNR5ov 🧪🌍️
⭐️Shortlisted for the 2025 Haldane Prize!⭐️ Kentaro Takagi investigated realised flower constancy as an adaptive strategy where pollinators balance the effort of recalling information with travel costs in various environments🐝 buff.ly/ITNR5ov 🧪🌍️
Haldane Prize 2025 | Kentaro Takagi: Realized flower constancy in bumble bees: Optimal foraging strategy balancing cognitive and travel costs and its possible consequences for floral diversity
2025 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Kentaro Takagi discusses the paper “Realized flower constancy in bumble bees: Optimal foraging strategy balancing cognitive and travel costs and its possible con…
buff.ly
Paul Ehrlich and The Bet "Markets don’t work when the things we care about don’t have market prices." legal-planet.org/2026/03/19/p...
Paul Ehrlich and The Bet - Legal Planet
Paul Ehrlich died last weekend at the age of 93. Here is the real lesson everyone misses about Ehrlich and his famous wager.
legal-planet.org
ct.moreover.com?a=5908949354...
Las abejas eligen las flores como si fuera una foto de Instagram: por la cantidad de “likes” que tiene
Un estudio sugiere que las abejas no siempre eligen la corola más vistosa: a veces siguen a las primeras comensales, y ese gesto colectivo podría influir en la evolución misma de las plantas.
ct.moreover.com
Bumblebees often choose flowers based on the presence of other bees rather than color alone, suggesting social cues can outweigh visual attraction in pollinator foraging decisions. doi.org/hbsjc2
Not so pretty but plenty of likes: A bumblebee bandwagon effect prioritizes busy flowers over beautiful ones
If you were a bee, how would you choose a flower to land on? You might go to the most beautiful one, as pollination biologists have long suggested that flowers with striking colors attract pollinators more easily.
phys.org
www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/research-... doi.org/10.1111/1365... @britishecologicalsociety.org
Not so pretty but plenty of likes
Kyoto, Japan -- If you were a bee, how would you choose a flower to land on? You might go to the most beautiful one, as pollination biologists have long suggested that flowers with striking colors att...
kyoto-u.ac.jp
Excited to learn that our flower constancy paper is shortlisted for the 2025 Haldane Prize, Functional Ecology’s award for early career researchers. Congratulations, Kentaro Takagi! #Ecology #Bees #AnimalBehaviour #FlowerConstancy buff.ly/Te56j18
Kaz Ohashi@kazohashilab.bsky.social · last yr.Our latest paper led by Kentaro Takagi was featured on the cover of Functional Ecology! 🎉👏🐝🌸 "Realized flower constancy in bumble bees: Optimal foraging strategy balancing cognitive and travel costs and its possible consequences for floral diversity" For full details: bit.ly/4bzIADN
Some flowers aren’t the flashiest, but they can still get a crowd. Our study shows less colourful flowers can attract as many pollinators as bright ones by getting early visitors—a floral “bandwagon effect” like a popular restaurant drawing the next wave of customers. bit.ly/4aq7WVL #Ecology #Bees
Bandwagon effects in a floral market: Early pollinator acquisition offsets colour disadvantages in less attractive flowers
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
bit.ly
📰Published📰Conveying a sense of buzz: how plain flowers benefit from early pollinators in winning followers🐝 buff.ly/ldxNWh9 🧪🌍️
Conveying a sense of buzz: how plain flowers benefit from early pollinators in winning followers
Lina G. Kawaguchi, Kazuharu Ohashi, Akihiro Konuma, Yukihiko Toquenaga This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Why do some flowers invest …
buff.ly
Our new paper is out! Here’s the lay summary. #Ecology #Pollination #AnimalBehavior #SocialInformation #FloralEcology #BandwagonEffects #Bumblebees
Functional Ecology@funecology.bsky.social · 6mo ago📰Published📰Conveying a sense of buzz: how plain flowers benefit from early pollinators in winning followers🐝 buff.ly/ldxNWh9 🧪🌍️
Some flowers aren’t the flashiest, but they can still get a crowd. Our study shows less colourful flowers can attract as many pollinators as bright ones by getting early visitors—a floral “bandwagon effect” like a popular restaurant drawing the next wave of customers. bit.ly/4aq7WVL #Ecology #Bees
Bandwagon effects in a floral market: Early pollinator acquisition offsets colour disadvantages in less attractive flowers
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
bit.ly
