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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

🐝 At Be(e) Care in Regilde, Felgueiras, Sílvia Castro spoke about the importance of pollinators, and João Loureiro moderated the morning sessions. The programme also included several polli.NET members and workshops for the public.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

🐝 We were delighted to welcome Laura Rojas Arias from the Gibbs Wild Bee Lab, University of Manitoba, for a visit to the DCV Entomological Collection in Coimbra. A great opportunity to exchange ideas on wild bee research, scientific collections & future collaborations!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

🇧🇷🐝 FLOWer Lab at the VI Brazilian Symposium on Pollination! João Loureiro gave an invited plenary, Sílvia Castro presented our work on crop pollination, and Cleyton Tenório presented his strawberry pollination research. Many thanks for an outstanding meeting and warm welcome!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🐝 The pollinator nests installed by 35+ volunteers in Coimbra’s Vale das Flores Urban Forest are already showing signs of occupation! Several cavities have been sealed with leaves, mud or other materials, indicating nesting by wild bees. 🌿 #BeeConnectedSUDOE

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Yesterday’s FLOWer Lab picnic at Parque do Choupalinho was also a farewell to Cleyton Tenório. Thank you, Cleyton, for your kindness, help and enthusiasm over the last six months. Wishing you all the best for your PhD! This is surely just a see you soon! 🌿

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

🌼 FLOWer Lab co-PI Sílvia Castro was an invited speaker at #FrontiersInE3 2026 organized by cE3c. Her plenary, “Invasion in motion”, explored the reproductive shifts accompanying the invasion of Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae) and their role in its success across new territories.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

🌿 FLOWer Lab picnic, yesterday, with farewell to Diana Frazão 💐 It has been a pleasure and an honour to have you at FLOWer Lab for the past two years. Thank you, Diana, for everything! 💛 Our yellow jersey. We wish you every success in this new stage at Ghent University!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

BeeConnected SUDOE - end of the 2026 field season! 16 locations in the urban area of Coimbra, sampled in March, May and July, and where we evaluated the diversity and abundance of pollinators, and the availability of floral resources and nesting sites! Many thanks to this super team!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

BeeConnected SUDOE - Day 3 of the July sampling period!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

BeeConnected SUDOE - Day 2 of the July sampling period!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

🐝🌿 “Biodiversity at our doorstep” organized within BeeConnected SUDOE project was a success! More than 35 volunteers joined us Coimbra for a morning of urban biodiversity activities, including building bee nests! Thank you to everyone who dedicated their morning to this cause, and to all partners.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Last Saturday afternoon, Sílvia Castro and @jloureiro13.bsky.social joined ORLA, Citizen Science Festival, in Figueira da Foz. With Taskmaster-style challenges, participants became pollinator detectives using FITCount and BioDiversity4All. Thanks to CFE and all participants! 🌼🐝

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

🌿 @jloureiro13.bsky.social, co-PI of the FLOWer Lab, presented the BeeConnected SUDOE project at the “Coimbra Abraça a Biodiversidade” event in Coimbra, celebrating the International Day for Biological Diversity. 🐝🌼

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

🐝🌸 Celebrating World Bee Day with this beautiful interaction recorded during last Saturday’s Scientific Expedition to the Berlengas. The bee Anthophora mucida visiting the endemic plant Echium rosulatum subsp. davaei 🌿 Without pollinators, there is no life. #WorldBeeDay #Pollinators #FLOWerLab

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

On the visit to Berlengas we also had the opportunity to see the endemism Podarcis carbonelli ssp. berlengensis, which almost landed for the camera!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

🌿🐝 Yesterday, within the BeeConnected SUDOE project, we visited EB2,3 de Taveiro school with the activity “Searching for pollinators in the schoolyard”. Students explored the school’s green areas and discovered wild bees, wasps, butterflies and hoverflies living around them 🌼

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

On the International Fascination Plants Day, we are sharing some of the wonderful plants we saw yesterday during the butterfly observation walks organised by Luís Cardoso in collaboration with Milvoz at the Morena and Bispo bio-reserves!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Expedition to the Berlengas - May 16, 2026, by FLOWer Lab, with João Farminhão, Cleyton Tenório, and Paulo Crisóstomo! In the coming days, we will share photos of the moments from this day. Today, enjoy the botanical marvels, including photos of the 4 endemic species of the Berlengas!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Today was also butterfly day with our monitoring transect! Look at the proboscis of the Thymelicus…

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

BeeConnected SUDOE - day 3 of the May sampling in the city of Coimbra!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Panurgus taking a nap at Drosophyllum lusitanicum! Until someone wakes them up.... Buzz....

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

🌿🪰 Field days with Drosophyllum lusitanicum in northern and central Portugal. We surveyed population size and structure, and started the first flower collections and measurements for pollen-ovule ratio 🌼 A remarkable carnivorous plant, and an exciting system to study plant reproductive ecology.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

BeeConnected SUDOE - início da amostragem de maio em jeito de homenagem do centenário do Sir David Attenborough! Muitos Parabéns Grande Mestre! BeeConnected SUDOE - start of the May sampling as a tribute to the centenary of Sir David Attenborough! Many Congratulations, Great Master!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

🌿🔎 Searching for the lost Coincya - Coincya johnstonii Yesterday, the FLOWer Lab team sampled four populations of C. johnstonii along the northern coast of Portugal. This endangered dune endemic is part of Diana Frazão’s project, focused on cytogenetic diversity, taxonomy and conservation.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

🐝🪰🦋 This week, ARCADE was represented at the final TETTRIs event in Brussels by Hugo Gaspar (FLOWer Lab) and Roberto Keller (MUHNAC). ARCADE was highlighted in a talk, poster and roundtable, showcasing work to strengthen bee, hoverfly and butterfly collections in Portugal.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

New paper with FLOWer Lab participation 🌼 Led by Sara Martín-Hernanz and Abelardo Aparicio’s from University of Seville, this study explores genome size evolution in Helianthemum, showing dynamic genome evolution within a highly conserved chromosomal framework. doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

FLOWer Lab is celebrating! 🌼 Sílvia Castro (Best Professor 🦉), Diana Frazão (Best Student 🦭), and Francisco Amado (Best Duo 🤝, with Bernardo Gonçalves) were honoured at the IX Genes d’Ouro Gala, organised by Biology students of @ucoimbra.bsky.social. Well-deserved recognition of their impact!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

What if plants stopped reproducing? 🌱 Yesterday, Sara Lopes took this question to PubhD Coimbra, highlighting how pollinator declines threaten plant reproduction and biodiversity. A great night of science, communication, and impact 🌍🐝

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Hey! There has been a robbery! Nectar robbing of Tropaeolum majus by the carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea)

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

🔎🌿 Raiders of the “misterious” Coincya. Yesterday we were in central coastal Portugal looking for Coincya populations and collecting material for study. A challenging genus, with taxonomic uncertainty, cytogenetic diversity, possible polyploidy, and taxa with conservation status in Portugal.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

👩‍🎓🌼 A warm welcome to Inês Tavares at the FLOWer Lab! Since Jan 2026, she has been contributing to BeeConnected SUDOE, working on floral resource surveys across 16 urban sites in Coimbra and exploring the world of pollinators through ID and specimen prep 🐝 Great to have you with us, Inês 💛

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

This is what happens when the flowerbeds at Pátio das Químicas, @ucoimbra.bsky.social, are cared for with native plants 🌼 Nothing but beautiful wild bees slowing us down, and filling our hearts and minds with joy 🐝

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

🫐🌼 Operation Violet Beauregarde is underway! At Viseu’s Agricultural Station, we’re testing how pollination affects blueberry yield and fruit quality, comparing open, cross and self-pollination. A hands-on experiment led by Helena Castro during Cleyton Tenório’s research stay in Portugal 🐝

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Flowers can move too 🌼🐝 In Galactites tomentosus, touching the disc florets can trigger a rapid staminal movement that helps control pollen presentation and release during a pollinator visit. This was observed by Biology students during Plant Diversity classes at the University of Coimbra 🌿

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

👩‍🎓🌼 Meet Carolina Reis, a new member of FLOWer Lab! Since Jan 2026, she has been working within the BeeConnected SUDOE project, quantifying floral resources across 16 urban sites in Coimbra and gaining skills in pollinator morphospecies ID and specimen preparation 🐝 Great to have you on the team!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

This morning we received at the FLOWer Lab, Cibelle Cardoso de Castro, full professor at the Federal University of Agreste de Pernambuco (UFAPE) to discuss possible research partnerships. In this context, since March the FLOWer Lab received the PhD student Cleyton Tenório. More news soon!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

In April, the Botanical Garden Moth Station recorded a captivating total of 24 individual moths from 17 taxa, with 15 identified down to the species level. The sampling revealed a charming mix of 3 delicate micro-moths and 21 striking macro-moths, highlighting a vibrant nocturnal life of the garden.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

One month of sampling completed in the urban area Coimbra for BeeConnected SUDOE 🌿🐝 We surveyed pollinator diversity, floral resources and nesting resources across 16 urban green spaces. Now it is time to process samples and analyse the first data. We return in May for the second sampling month.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

The final, formatted and illustrated versions of the PT Pollinators Action Plan and its stakeholder summary, developed by the FLOWer Lab, are already available on the ICNF website. A huge thank you again to everyone involved, especially the PolinizAÇÃO team. 🌼🐝 www.icnf.pt/noticias/con...

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Los mirones de las abejas en los canteros de la Universidad! Também tu podes ser um mirone de las abejas! Instala o FITCount e vem espiar as abelhas e outros polinizadores connosco!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

First flowers are now blooming in the restored beds at Pátio das Químicas, University of Coimbra 🌸 The first pollinators are here too, including a male and a female Anthophora plumipes, and we are now starting pollinator monitoring with the FITCount citizen science app 🐝

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Cândida Ramos presented her PhD work at the CFE Doctoral Dialogues, in the session “Research in progress” 🦋🌿 Her PhD focuses on citizen science for restoring biodiversity in agricultural areas, through butterfly monitoring and raising awareness among farmers. #CitizenScience #Pollinators

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

An unrequited love story between an Andrena bee and Ophrys fusca 💔🌸 A classic case of sexual deception, where the orchid mimics female cues to attract pollinators, not always successfully.

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

👩‍🎓🌿 Today we highlight Diana Frazão, a 3rd-year Biology student at UC. Her work focuses on reproductive barriers in Jasione and, in her Applied Biology project, she will study polyploid species complexes 🌼🧬 We’re very proud to have her with us!

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FLOWer Lab 🌸🍒 🐝 🪰🔬🧬 @flowerlab.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

We collected tetraploid (4x) Jasione maritima var. sabularia in the coastal dunes of Espinho, Portugal and potted them at the FLOWer Lab. They now join Jasione maritima and Jasione montana in our experiment. Once flowering starts, we will perform intra- and interspecific crosses 🧬

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