Are gardens good for mining bees

Scientific reports, 2024

The mining bee (Andrena spp.) play a key role in ensuring plant and animal diversity. The present study examines their diversity in a post-agricultural landscape exemplified by the Kampinos National Park (KNP), a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Poland. The following hypotheses were addressed: (H1) the mining bees demonstrate a narrow ecological amplitude, (H2) there are no indicator species for particular habitats, and (H3) the studied mining bees have the same ecological preferences to those presented in the literature. A total of 40 catch per unit effort samples (CPUE) were collected across various habitats with different soil humidity. Forty-six species were recorded, representing 46% of mining bees and approximately 10% of the known Polish bee fauna. Nineteen of the recorded species (41%) were assigned to CR-NT threat categories, indicating that the national park plays a significant role in preserving mining bee species diversity and their conservation. None of the hypotheses (H1, H2, H3) were confirmed. The mining bees were found to demonstrate a wide ecological amplitude. Surprisingly, habitats located in dry and wet soils were both characterised by high abundance and species richness. Seventeen indicators were distinguished among the dominant and rarer species. Our findings suggest that Andrena nigroaenea and A. ventralis (lower humidity), as well as A. alfkenella and A. minutuloides (higher humidity), have different significant relationships with habitat soil humidity to those reported in the literature. The bees (Apoidea, Anthophila) are a monophyletic group with approximately 20,000 species described worldwide 1. The genus Andrena Fabr. (family Andrenidae), comprising short-tongued, solitary bees ranging in length from 6 mm to almost 20 mm 1 , is one of the largest of all bee genera, with more than 1500 described species in the world fauna 1,2 , and about 400 in Europe 3. It comprises more than 20% of the bees of Poland, with 100 of the currently-known species in the country 4. Andrena is distributed throughout North and Central America, North Africa and Eurasia, including the Far East; the group is absent from South America, Australia and Oceania 1. Wild bees, including Andrena species, are the main plant pollinators in many ecosystems 5. As they are needed for the pollination of many entomophilous species and the successful commercial production of fruits and vegetables 6 , they are often considered keystone species 7. Some species are oligolectic, i.e. they collect nectar and pollen from a single plant family, and sometimes only a single genus or species. Most andrenids are early spring species; however, some have later flight periods, and some spring species have a second generation in late summer 8. They emerge when relatively few pollinators are active, making them very important pollinators

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2013

Bees provide an essential pollination service for crops and wild plants. However, substantial declines in bee populations and diversity have been observed in Europe and North America for the past 50 years, partly due to the loss of natural habitats and reduction of plant diversity resulting from agricultural intensification. To mitigate the negative effects of agricultural intensification, agri-environmental schemes (AES) have been proposed to sustain bees and others pollinators in agrosystems. AES include the preservation of semi-natural habitats such as grasslands, fallows, woodlots, hedgerows or set-aside field margins. However, empirical evidence suggest that the use of those semi-natural habitats by bees may vary greatly among bee functional groups and may further be influenced by the presence of alternative foraging habitats such as mass-flowering crops. The present study sets out to investigate whether the three bee groups typically targeted by AES (honey bees, bumble bees and other wild bees) differ in the way they use those semi-natural habitats relative to common mass-flowering crops (oilseed rape, sunflower, alfalfa) in an intensive agricultural farming system. A clear segregation pattern in the use of floral resources appeared between honey bees and wild bees, with the former being tightly associated with mass-flowering crops and the latter with semi-natural habitats. Bumble bees had an intermediate strategy and behaved as habitat generalists. Therefore, it would be sensible to treat the three bee groups with distinct AES management strategies, and to further consider potential effects on AES efficiency of alternative foraging habitats in the surrounding. This study also stresses the importance of native floral resources, particularly in semi-natural herbaceous habitats, for sustaining wild bee populations.

Sharma HK, Thakur P, Prasad H, Sharma R and Devi M. 2020. Pollination Management -A Bee Town for a Better Tomorrow. Bees for Development Journal.134: 5-7, 2020

2010

Basic and Applied Ecology, 2011

Conversion of natural habitats to human settlements creates an alternative habitat with different bio-physical characteristics such as micro-climatic conditions and resource availability. Deserts are especially sensitive to such effects due to generally low nutrient levels and water availability. Gardens in human settlements in the desert are often a main source of alien plant species that provide ample foraging resources year round. These changes in floral composition and availability may alter pollinator community composition and foraging behaviour, as well as pollination network characteristics. We investigated the effects of desert gardening on pollinator communities and pollination networks in the Jordan Rift Valley (Israel), an arid agro-natural landscape south of the Dead Sea. We studied seasonal diversity patterns of plants and wild bees in natural habitats and in gardens in settlements. Wild bees and blooming plants were sampled from February to July in 2007 and in 2008. We constructed plant-pollinator networks and compared bee communities between the two habitat types along the season. We found that bee abundance was greater in the gardens, and that rarefied bee species richness was greater in the natural habitat. Bee species richness and abundance exhibited contrasting seasonal patterns between habitats. Bee community composition also differed greatly between habitats, and species in the gardens had a generally wider geographical range in comparison to species in the natural habitat. We also found a higher level of generalisation of the pollination network in the gardens compared to the natural habitat, which may indicate a response to a disturbed and unstable environment. We conclude that gardening in deserts although promoting overall bee abundance, negatively affects species richness and changes community composition and network characteristics, with possible implications on the composition of native flora in the natural habitat surrounding the gardens. A. Gotlieb et al. / Basic and Applied Ecology 12 (2011) 310-320 311 2008 erfasst. Wir konstruierten Diagramme der Pflanzen-Bestäuber-Netzwerke und verglichen die Bienengemeinschaften der beiden Habitattypen im Laufe der Saison. Wir fanden, dass die Bienenabundanz in den Gärten größer war und dass die rarefizierte Artenzahl in den natürlichen Habitaten höher war. Artenreichtum und Abundanz der Bienen zeigten unterschiedliche jahreszeitliche Muster. Die Zusammensetzung der Bienengemeinschaften der beiden Habitattypen war ebenfalls unterschiedlich. Die Arten der Gärten hatten ein größeres geographisches Verbreitungsgebiet als die Arten des natürlichen Habitats. Im Vergleich zum natürlichen Habitat fanden wir auch einen höheren Grad der Generalisierung im Pollinationsnetzwerk der Gärten. Dies könnte ein Indikator für eine gestörte, instabile Umwelt sein. Wir folgern, dass das Anlegen von Gärten in Wüsten, obwohl die Gesamtbienenabundanz erhöht wird, den Artenreichtum negativ beeinflusst sowie Artenzusammensetzung und Netzwerkeigenschaften verändert, was Auswirkungen auf die einheimische Flora der natürlichen Habitate in der Umgebung von Gärten haben kann.

International Journal of Environmental Studies, 2019

Biology

The concept of ecosystem services is widely understood as the services and benefits thatecosystems provide to humans, and they have been categorised into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. This article aims to provide an updated overview of the benefits that the honey bee Apis mellifera provides to humans as well as ecosystems. We revised the role of honey bees as pollinators in natural ecosystems to preserve and restore the local biodiversity of wild plants; in agro-ecosystems, this species is widely used to enhance crop yield and quality, meeting the increasing food demand. Beekeeping activity provides humans not only with high-quality food but also with substances used as raw materials and in pharmaceuticals, and in polluted areas, bees convey valuable information on the environmental presence of pollutants and their impact on human and ecosystem health. Finally, the role of the honey bee in symbolic tradition, mysticism, and the cultural values of the b...

2019

Tropical regions are subjected to rapid land use changes altering species composition and diversity in communities. The non-Apis bees are vital invertebrates continued to be highly neglected in the tropics. We compared their diversity status, richness and composition across natural areas and agroecosystems in Doon valley, a subtropical-temperate landscape situated at the foothills of outer Himalayas in India. We investigated how two major habitats relate to non-Apis bee diversity, specifically seeking answers to (1) Whether natural habitat is a refuge to richer and rarer bee communities than agroecosystems? (2) Are natural habitats important for supporting wild bee populations in agroecosystems? (3) Do polyculture farms behave similar to natural habitats and therefore support richer bee communities than monoculture? Observation and pantrap sampling were used to collect data. We recorded 43 species belonging to bees of five families. The findings of our investigation demonstrate the ...

Biological Conservation, 2011

The recent loss of pollinating insects and out-crossing plants in agricultural landscapes has raised concern for the maintenance of ecosystem services. Wild bees have been shown to benefit from garden habitats in urban and suburban areas. We investigated the effects of distance from garden habitats on wild bees and seed set of a native out-crossing plant Campanula persicifolia, in intensively managed agricultural landscapes in Southern Sweden. Bee abundance and species richness, as well as plant seed set, were higher closer to gardens (<15 m) than further away (>140 m). This highlights private gardens as a landscape wide resource for pollinators but also the lack of sufficient pollination of wild plants in contemporary agricultural landscapes.