Biology subjects

Peters, M. K.

Publications and source records attributed to Peters, M. K..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Nocturnal pollination services as an ecological safety net for papaya production in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Pollination is of key importance for tropical agriculture, yet a bee-centred perspective often overlooks the critical role of nocturnal insects in pollination services. We evaluated the relative contributions of diurnal and nocturnal pollinators to papaya yields on subsistence farms in the Taita Hills, Kenya, a globally important biodiversity hotspot. We combined flower visitor observations with five experimental treatments: open pollination, wind-only (closed), hand pollination, and temporal exclusions for day-only and night-only services. Our results reveal complete temporal niche partitioning between diurnal bees and nocturnal hawkmoths (Sphingidae). We found that diurnal and nocturnal pollinators provide additive, rather than redundant, services, contributing to papaya fruit set and weight to a similar extent. Despite these contributions, supplementary hand-pollination experiments indicated a significant yield gap (36.9% lower fruit set), suggesting substantial pollinator limitation. While landscape-scale factors had no significant effects, nocturnal pollinators responded positively to organic management, whereas diurnal visitors did not. This indicates that local habitat quality and ecological intensification are more critical for sustaining specialised pollinators than landscape composition. Our study highlights the vital role of nocturnal insects as an ecological safety net and emphasises that their conservation through local organic practices is essential for securing yield quantity and quality in tropical papaya farming systems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Host-specific and common core microbiota in adult butterflies across continents

1 Abstract The assembly of host-specific microbiota is critical for health and functioning of many insect pollinators. While social pollinators maintain core microbiota through social transmission, the factors driving microbiota assembly in solitary pollinators remain poorly understood. Lepidoptera are an important group of pollinators, but microbiome research has largely focused on their larval stage, while nectar-feeding adults have been widely ignored. Field-based studies of the adult butterfly microbiota are rare and geographically and taxonomically restricted. Here, we characterize the microbiota of adult butterflies from natural environments along elevational and seasonal gradients across two continents spanning the Neotropical and Palearctic realms. Microbiota diversity and composition were primarily explained by host taxonomic identity, whereas geographic location and temperature had little effect. We found high microbial titers and a common core microbiota across seven butterfly subfamilies from temperate and tropical regions. A comparison with sympatric wild bees revealed partial taxonomic overlap but marked distinctions in lactic acid bacteria between Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. Together, our results demonstrate that host taxonomic identity, rather than environmental drivers, is the dominant force structuring the microbiota of adult butterflies. This highlights that the host-filtering capacity of solitary species has been largely underestimated, challenging previous assumptions that the microbiota of this important pollinator group is primarily environmentally driven and of limited functional significance.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

A citizen science photo guide of plants and bee visitors in the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot of Kenya

The influence of global change on species assemblage patterns is on the rise with evidence showing a steady decline in pollinator communities across the globe. As such, the implementation of rigorous monitoring efforts aimed at documenting the actual status of pollinators is of essence especially in the tropics. This can be possible through participatory studies with volunteers (citizen scientists) that emphasizes on apriori research hypotheses with the aim to draw inferences on the potential drivers of species community assemblage patterns. In ecology, photos have the ability to drive change and can provide unbiased evidence on species existence with a potential to compare changes over time and space. However, in the tropics and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, such ideas fall short of public participation. In this study, we aimed to assess and digitally document plants and their bee visitors as important data sources with immense potential to improve on the knowledge and awareness of the different plants and bee species in two counties of Kenya (Taita and Muranga). Our results showed marked differences in bee community assemblage patterns between the two counties, with a huge number of unique species between them. We successfully digitalised and present photos of 114 bee and 262 plant species. Using these digitalised photographs, we herein elaborate on the community assemblage patterns of plants and their bee pollinators in the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot (EABH) of Kenya and further discuss the importance of exploiting images for research in biodiversity and conservation. We therefore conclude that, technological advances that helps in digitalising species through photography can be important in the successful implementation of community based environmental threat management agendas.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Dung beetles do not profit from enhanced spatial heterogeneity in production forests: a large-scale forest manipulation experiment

O_LICentral European forest management strategies promoting structurally homogeneous closed-canopy forests have led to landscape-level declines in biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality. Conservation-targeted management programs aim at reintroducing structural heterogeneity into production forests, however, it is not well understood if species diversity and ecosystem functions generally profit from management promoting heterogeneity in forest structure. By removing and processing mammalian dung remains, dung beetles play an integral role in ecosystem functions in forests. C_LIO_LIIn one of the largest manipulative forest experiments in Central Europe to date, we analysed the effects of enhanced structural heterogeneity in production forests, climate, and mammalian defecation on dung beetle diversity and dung removal rates at the local and landscape level. We assessed communities of dung beetles and dung removal rates on 234 study patches (50 x 50 m) in eleven paired forest landscapes across a climatic gradient in Germany. Forest landscapes were either managed to conserve a homogeneous closed canopy or to create a heterogeneous forest structure with forest patches varying in canopy coverage and dead wood availability. C_LIO_LIWe did not find that more heterogeneously managed forests had higher dung beetle species diversity and dung removal rates. Canopy openings did not increase species turnover but decreased species diversity. C_LIO_LIAlong the climate gradient, dung beetle average biomass and dung removal decreased with increasing temperature. Canopy openings in combination with higher temperatures negatively impacted all abundant dung beetle species, but especially the large species Anoplotrupes stercorosus, comprising > 90% of the total dung beetle biomass. C_LIO_LISynthesis and application: Our results suggest that dung beetles do not profit from management increasing the structural heterogeneity of forests. Due to a restricted climate and habitat niche of the current Central European dung beetle fauna, future warming and openings in forest structure might have negative effects on dung beetles and consequently on the ecosystem services they provide in Central European production forests. C_LI

ecology↗