A few years ago a neighbor of mine who had a very tidy garden asked me why, even though my husband and I were not as “precise” as he was, we had more fruit on the trees even if we did not give them any “medicines”. It was not easy to explain to him that an “English” garden made of grass without flowers does not attract insects and that the “medicines” exterminated many of the insects that dared to cross the border wall between our orchards. It was even more difficult to make him understand that the partnerships between insects and plants have been going on long before the appearance of us presumptuous human beings and that, if we continue at this rate, we will have to be satisfied only with the grains for which the wind is enough to pollinate their young. insignificant flowers.
It is to one of the most indefatigable kinds of pollinators, the Bumblebees (Bombus sp.), that Dave Goulson has dedicated this volume and his life as a scientist. The famous British entomologist teaches biology at the University of Sussex. For his studies and his commitment to the defense of bees he was appointed “Social Innovator of the Year” and in 2013 he won the prestigious Marsh Award for Conservation Biology assigned by the Zoological Society of London.
Publisher: Hoepli, 2019 | Pages: XXIV-232, Hard cover
EAN: 9788820390600
The book that I highly recommend brings us closer to these fascinating and precious species which, due to our way of living and cultivating, are risking extinction and will leave us without fruit. Which would be a well-deserved punishment!
With great competence and an ironic and passionate style, the author helps us to enter an unknown and surprising world, populated by beings that are very interesting, both from an ethological and morphological point of view. Intelligent and very active workers, Bumblebees are among the best pollinators in the entire animal kingdom. The destruction of natural habitats, the dangerous importation of species carrying exotic diseases, and the progressive disappearance of many endangered species are sensitive environmental issues.
But for the Bumblebees there is no shortage of positive notes: Goulson, the founder of an association dedicated to the protection of these insects, is daily committed to their protection and reintroduction into their original territories.
Credits
Author: Anna Lacci is a scientific popularizer and expert in environmental education and sustainability and in territory teaching. She is the author of documentaries and naturalistic books, notebooks and interdisciplinary teaching aids and multimedia information materials.
Translation by Maria Antonietta Sessa
