Declining populations among pollinating insects is happening world wide. One of the main reasons behind this decline is the intensification of the agricultural landscape that has occured during the last decades an has resulted in a drastic decrease in number of flower rich habitats and caused a shortage of nesting and foraging habitats for insects. Today you can find rests from an old agricultural landscape, with plants that are of importance for our pollinators, next to railways and in road verges. Since roads and road verges are constantly increasing in numbers, flower rich road verges could function as an important resource for insects. My project is a cooperation between Lund University and The Swedish Transport Administration. I will spend my time as a PhD student by looking at how flower rich road verges are affecting our pollinating insects. Can they help our insects or are they posing a threat by acting as ecological traps? The aim is to find features in road verges and ways to manage these in order to help our pollinators.
I did my undergraduate studies in Biology and my MSc in Conservation Biology here at Lund University. During my time as a student I have gotten the chance to work as an assistant in different projects concerning bumblebees in the agricultural landscape and am looking forward to continuing my work with pollinating insects.
Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.
3D-Printed Fluorescence Hyperspectral Lidar for Monitoring Tagged InsectsHampus Månefjord, Lauro Müller, Meng Li, Jacobo Salvador, Sofia Blomqvist, et al.
(2022) IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 28
Long-term data shows increasing dominance of Bombus terrestris with climate warmingLina Herbertsson, Reem Khalaf, Karin Johnson, Rune Bygebjerg, Sofia Blomqvist, et al.
(2021) Basic and Applied Ecology, 53 p.116-123
Biologiska hot mot humlorEva Forsgren, Jenny Henriksson, Lina Herbertsson, Ingrid Karlsson, Joachim R. de Miranda, et al.
Have you seen a bumblebee nest?
Have you seen a bumblebee nest? As part of my research, I train my dog Ylle to find bumblebee nests. The idea is to investigate whether dogs are better at finding nests than humans.
Ylle and I are happy to receive tips on where the public has seen bumblebee nests. Then we can go to the place and train. Send an e-mail with the coordinates and a short description to me at sofia [dot] blomqvist [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se (subject: Bumblebee%20nest) .
Thanks in advance!