65 degrees of bee thermal biology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jom.vi131.24009Abstract
Addressing global bee declines requires multidisciplinary, coordinated, and collaborative action. This contribution highlights ongoing efforts to build multidisciplinary and international partnerships among researchers from the University of Wyoming, the University of Kansas, and the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, spanning nearly 65 degrees of latitude, to explore how bees respond to changing temperatures. This document summarizes key insights from a mini-symposium held on May 12, 2025, and preliminary collaborative studies conducted between May 8 and 15, 2025, at the Universidade de São Paulo. The mini-symposium brought together faculty and researchers from different Brazilian universities, along with both undergraduate and graduate students, creating a dynamic exchange of ideas across institutions and career stages. Emerging themes from the discussions included the inconsistent use of terminology and methods for assessing thermal biology, critical gaps in taxonomic and life-history coverage, restricted access to expensive equipment and the need for more accessible approaches, and the opportunity to incorporate alternative metrics of thermal tolerance in future studies.
Resumo. Ações coordenadas, colaborativas e multidisciplinares são essenciais para enfrentar o declínio global das abelhas. Esta contribuição destaca um esforço atual para estabelecer parcerias internacionais e interdisciplinares entre pesquisadores da Universidade de Wyoming, da Universidade do Kansas e da Universidade de São Paulo (Brasil), abrangendo quase 65 graus de latitude, com o objetivo de investigar como as abelhas respondem às mudanças de temperatura. O documento apresenta os principais insights de um mini-simpósio realizado em 12 de maio de 2025, bem como de estudos colaborativos preliminares conduzidos entre 8 e 15 de maio de 2025, na Universidade de São Paulo. O evento reuniu docentes e pesquisadores de diversas universidades brasileiras, além de alunos de graduação e pós-graduação, promovendo uma troca rica e dinâmica de ideias entre diferentes instituições e níveis de experiência acadêmica. Entre os temas emergentes das discussões destacaram-se: o uso inconsistente de terminologias e métodos na avaliação da biologia térmica, lacunas significativas na cobertura taxonômica e de história de vida, o acesso limitado a equipamentos caros e a consequente necessidade de metodologias mais acessíveis e a oportunidade de incorporar métricas alternativas de tolerância térmica em pesquisas futuras.
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