In this section
@article{Nesbit:2026:10.1038/s41598-026-41830-7,
author = {Nesbit, ML and Montauban, C and Windram, F and Pérez, MSB and Hughes, WOH and Goulson, D and Gill, RJ and Graystock, P},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-41830-7},
journal = {Sci Rep},
title = {Mapping global bee research with traits and plant-pollinator interaction networks.},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41830-7},
volume = {16},
year = {2026}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - UNLABELLED: Bees sustain key functions in natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes, yet our understanding of their ecology is typically informed from studies concentrated on a few model taxa. To reveal how this may be biasing our understanding of bee responses and function in the environment we quantify global patterns of research attention across 69,682 bee-related publications to test whether research effort aligns with plant-pollinator network centrality, trait variation, public interest, and socio-economic context. Human managed bees take up most of the research effort; importantly this trend has been increasing over time. Plant–pollinator network centrality is unrelated to research effort; here we reveal genera with high centrality but low research attention as prime candidates for future study. Both pollinator management and sociality have an impact on research effort. Excluding Apis and Bombus (the most traditionally researched genera), managed bee genera are the focus of twice as many papers as wild genera, with the managed share rising over time. Our study reveals and quantifies persistent global research biases and highlights the need for monitoring, risk assessment, and policies that target neglected yet structurally central genera in plant-pollinator interaction networks. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-41830-7.
AU - Nesbit,ML
AU - Montauban,C
AU - Windram,F
AU - Pérez,MSB
AU - Hughes,WOH
AU - Goulson,D
AU - Gill,RJ
AU - Graystock,P
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-41830-7
PY - 2026///
TI - Mapping global bee research with traits and plant-pollinator interaction networks.
T2 - Sci Rep
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41830-7
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/41807479
VL - 16
ER -
Interested in studying a PhD at the Department of Life Sciences? Find out more about postgraduate research opportunties.