Supervisors:

dr hab. Agnieszka Bednarska (a.bednarska@uj.edu.pl)
dr Zuzanna Filipiak (zuzanna.filipiak@uj.edu.pl)

Institute of Environmental Sciences

Background information:

Bees are a key element in many ecological interactions and play an important role as pollinators of flowering plants, including agricultural crops. Unfortunately, bees are threatened by multiple stressors such as land-use-associated stressors (e.g., habitat loss and transformation, pesticides), and climate change. These stressors cause bee food to deteriorate and consequently reduce bee health and prosperity. While various stressors have been studied individually thus far, the collective impact they will have remains unknown. The combination of local land-use-associated stressors and those associated with climate change, as they occur in nature, likely affects bees differently than each stressor acting individually.

The main question to be addressed in the project:

The aim the project is to assess the combined impact of land-use-associated stressors and stressors associated with climate change on the functioning of the wild bee Osmia bicornis.

Information on the methods/description of work:

Successful doctoral candidate will be responsible for conducting laboratory experiments using the wild bee O. bicornis. By using feeding experiments, the doctoral candidate will determine the impact of the studied factors on bee survival, growth, and development.

Additional information:

The Ph.D. student will be involved in a Polish National Science Centre project Opus 23: "The combined effect of a homogenous diet, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, and pesticides on the functioning of a wild bee" (No. 2022/45/B/NZ8/00875). The student will be supported by a research stipend 5000 PLN per month (for 48 months). This stipend may be combined with the Ph.D. program scholarship. Since the stipend recipient will be chosen through a separate competition, applicants interested in this project are encouraged to contact Dr Zuzanna Filipiak directly as soon as possible

Requirements for the student:

Place/name of potential foreign collaborator:

Prof. Dr. Sara Diana Leonhardt, Technical University of Munich, Germany

References:

[1] Filipiak ZM, et al. (2022) Sci Total Environ. 820, 153326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153326

[2] Mokkapati JS, et al. (2021) Sci Total Environ. 775, 145588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145588

[3] Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsNImYspsPo