I am principally a bee taxonomist and ecologist, focusing on the fundamental study of Old World bees. This has primarily focused on mining bees (genus Andrena) but increasingly includes many other bee groups that are diversified in dry or Mediterranean environments. I also study the dietary niches of bees through identifying and quantifying the pollen they collect. This fundamental knowledge is then leveraged to answer applied management and conservation questions.
Keywords
Bees, taxonomy, insects, Mediterranean, Andrena, identification keys, pollen, diet breadth, phenology, Hymenoptera
Researchinterest
I aim to understand bees on a fundamental level, integrating data from their behaviour, morphology, genetic structure into robust species concepts and definitions.
Robust species concept for bees facilitate their effective study; these concepts can then be used by ecologists to answer applied questions related to land management and conservation, as well as biodiversity discovery and monitoring. Bees are hugely diverse, with around 21,000 species known globally and around 3,500 species in the West Palaearctic, my region of greatest focus.
Through integrated study, obscure species can be recognised and their ecology clarified, for example the unusual diet of Andrena rufiventris (pictured) which only collects pollen from the wind-pollinated genus Plantago (Plantaginaceae), a group of plants that do not produce nectar.
Keypublications
- Wood T.J., Gibbs J., Graham K.K. & Isaacs R. 2019. Narrow pollen diets are associated with declining Midwestern bumble bee species. Ecology 100: e02697
- Wood T.J. 2023. The genus Andrena Fabricius, 1775 in the Iberian Peninsula (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 96: 241-484
- Glaum P.R., Wood T.J., Morris J. & Valdovinos F. 2021. Phenology and flowering overlap drive specialization in plant-pollinator networks. Ecology Letters 24: 2648-2659
- Bossert S., Wood T.J., Patiny S., Michez D., Almeida E.A.B., Minckley R.L., Packer L., Neff J.L., Copeland R.S., Straka J., Pauly A., Griswold T., Brady S.G., Danforth B.N. & Murray E.A. 2022. Phylogeny, biogeography and diversification of the mining bee family Andrenidae. Systematic Entomology 47: 283-302
- Wood, T.J. and Roberts, S.P.M. 2018. Constrained patterns of pollen use in Nearctic Andrena (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) compared to their Palearctic counterparts. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 124: 732-746
- Wood T.J., Kaplan I. & Szendrei Z. 2018. Wild bee pollen diets reveal patterns of seasonal foraging resources for honey bees. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 6: 210
- Baldock D., Wood T.J., Cross I. & Smit J. 2018. The Bees of Portugal (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). Entomofauna Supplement 22: 1-164
- Wood T.J., Ghisbain G., Rasmont P., Kleijn D., Raemakers I., Praz C., Killewald M., Gibbs J., Bobiwash K., Boustani M., Martinet B. & Michez D. 2021. Global patterns in bumble bee pollen collection show phylogenetic conservation of diet. Journal of Animal Ecology 90: 2421-2430
- Wood T.J., Holland J.M. and Goulson D. 2017. Providing foraging resources for farmland bees: current schemes for pollinators benefit a limited suite of species. Journal of Applied Ecology 54: 323-333