Prof Dave Goulson has had a lifelong interest in insects, having started collecting butterflies as a small boy. After a degree in Biology at Oxford University and a PhD at Oxford Brookes University, he obtained a lectureship at the University of Southampton in 1995, where he stayed for 11 years. He is now Professor of Biological Sciences and Head of the School of Biological & Environmental Sciences at the University of Stirling. In 2006 he founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, a membership-based charity devoted to the active promotion of bee conservation in the UK; the trust now has 3,000 members.

Contributions from Mark J.F. Brown, Juliet L. Osborne, and Ben Darvill

"This second edition, like the first, covers an impressive breadth of topics on a fascinating group of social bees. This book is a good choice for students just learning about the beguiling world of bumblebees and it will serve as a general reference for research scientists. It is a welcome addition to a growing body of research on these marvelous bees."--The Quarterly Review of Biology

"The author has succeeded in explaining the current knowledge of a wide range of behavioural and ecological topics in a way that makes them accessible to non-specialists. Technical terms are explained, allowing the book to be understood by those with a general knowledge of biology, but without simplifying the issues or being intrusive to a professional entomologist."--Bulletin of the British Ecological Society