scholarly journals Habitat quality and surrounding landscape structures influence wild bee occurrence in perennial wildflower strips

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea F. Schuberta ◽  
Niels Hellwigb ◽  
Anita Kirmera ◽  
Christian Schmid-Eggerc ◽  
Annika Schmidta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Wildflower Strips ◽  
Surrounding Landscape

scholarly journals Preserving habitat quality at local and landscape scales increases wild bee diversity in intensive farming systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 275 ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orianne Rollin ◽  
Néstor Pérez-Méndez ◽  
Vincent Bretagnolle ◽  
Mickaël Henry
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Intensive Farming ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Bee Diversity ◽  
Landscape Scales

scholarly journals Wild Bee Pollinators Foraging in Peanut and Cotton Adjacent to Native Wildflower Strips

2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn M. Olson ◽  
Jason Gibbs ◽  
Jason M. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Wild Bee ◽  
Wildflower Strips

scholarly journals Wildflower Seed Sales as Incentive for Adopting Flower Strips for Native Bee Conservation: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey M Delphia ◽  
Kevin M O’Neill ◽  
Laura A Burkle
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Farmer Adoption ◽  
Bee Conservation ◽  
Wildflower Strips

Abstract Improving pollinator habitat on farmlands is needed to further wild bee conservation and to sustain crop pollination in light of relationships between global declines in pollinators and reductions in floral resources. One management strategy gaining much attention is the use of wildflower strips planted alongside crops to provide supplemental floral resources for pollinators. However, farmer adoption of pollinator-friendly strategies has been minimal, likely due to uncertainty about costs and benefits of providing non-crop flowering plants for bees. Over 3 yr, on four diversified farms in Montana, United States, we estimated the potential economic profit of harvesting and selling wildflower seeds collected from flower strips implemented for wild bee conservation, as an incentive for farmers to adopt this management practice. We compared the potential profitability of selling small retail seed packets versus bulk wholesale seed. Our economic analyses indicated that potential revenue from retail seed sales exceeded the costs associated with establishing and maintaining wildflower strips after the second growing season. A wholesale approach, in contrast, resulted in considerable net economic losses. We provide proof-of-concept that, under retail scenarios, the sale of native wildflower seeds may provide an alternative economic benefit that, to our knowledge, remains unexplored. The retail seed-sales approach could encourage greater farmer adoption of wildflower strips as a pollinator-conservation strategy in agroecosystems. The approach could also fill a need for regionally produced, native wildflower seed for habitat restoration and landscaping aimed at conserving native plants and pollinators.

scholarly journals Checklist of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from small diversified vegetable farms in south-western Montana

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey Delphia ◽  
Terry Griswold ◽  
Elizabeth Reese ◽  
Kevin O'Neill ◽  
Laura Burkle
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Western Montana ◽  
Crop Pollination ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Species List ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Wildflower Strips ◽  
Pollination Systems

Over three years (2013-2015), we sampled bees using nets and bowl traps on four diversified vegetable farms in Gallatin County, Montana, USA, as part of a study evaluating the use of wildflower strips for supporting wild bees and crop pollination services on farmlands (Delphia et al. In prep). We document 202 species and morphospecies from 32 genera within five families, of which 25 species represent the first published state records for Montana. This study increases our overall understanding of the distribution of wild bee species associated with agroecosystems of the northern US Rockies, which is important for efforts aimed at conserving bee biodiversity and supporting sustainable crop pollination systems on farmlands.We provide a species list of wild bees associated with diversified farmlands in Montana and increase the number of published bee species records in the state from 374 to at least 399. The list includes new distributional records for 25 wild bee species, including two species that represent considerable expansions of their known ranges, Lasioglossum (Dialictus) clematisellum (Cockerell 1904) with previously published records from New Mexico, Arizona, California and Utah and Melissodes (Eumelissodes) niveus Robertson 1895 which was reported to range from New York to Minnesota and Kansas, south to North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.

Wildflower strips enhance wild bee reproductive success

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Ganser ◽  
Matthias Albrecht ◽  
Eva Knop
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Wildflower Strips

scholarly journals Prolonged blooming season of flower plantings increases wild bee abundance and richness in agricultural landscapes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Neumüller ◽  
Hannah Burger ◽  
Hans Richard Schwenninger ◽  
Sebastian Hopfenmüller ◽  
Sabrina Krausch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Large Spatial Scale ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Bee Conservation ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Surrounding Landscape ◽  
Study Sites

AbstractFlower plantings can increase the abundance of bees and improve pollination services in the surrounding landscape. However, uncertainty remains as to whether flower plantings play a role in wild bee conservation. The aim of this study has been to examine the contribution of the composition and management of flower plantings to the attraction of bees, particularly of endangered species. In a large-scale monitoring project, wild bee data were collected on 60 flower plantings and 120 semi-natural reference plots in 20 study sites over 2 years. In total, we recorded 60,335 bees belonging to 351 species. In flower plantings, bee species richness and abundance were intricately linked to high plant richness and constant blooming throughout the season. In the first year of this study, a complimentary blooming phenology of annual and perennial plants resulted in a more constant bloom on flower plantings. In the second year, partial mowing of flower plantings mid-season enhanced floral resources during the late season. As a result, bee richness and abundance in flower plantings increased from the first to the second year. Nevertheless, the compositional heterogeneity of bees over all 20 sites in Germany did not increase from the first to the second year. We conclude that diverse and constant blooming throughout the season is the most important factor for promoting bees in flower plantings. To ensure sufficient beta diversity over a large spatial scale, we recommend the adjustment of seed mixtures according to the geographical region.

scholarly journals Surrounding landscape structures, rather than habitat age, drive genetic variation of typical calcareous grassland plant species

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 2881-2893
Author(s):  
Theresa Anna Lehmair ◽  
Ellen Pagel ◽  
Peter Poschlod ◽  
Christoph Reisch
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Landscape Structure ◽  
Calcareous Grassland ◽  
Calcareous Grasslands ◽  
Surrounding Landscape ◽  
Swabian Alb

Abstract Context Land use change reduced calcareous grasslands throughout Europe during the last decades. Subsequent fragmentation and habitat deterioration led, moreover, to a massive biodiversity decline. To counteract this alarming development, a clear understanding of genetic variation patterns, as fundamental level of biodiversity, becomes inevitable. Objectives The aim of our study was to identify the drivers of genetic variation in common calcareous grassland plant species. More specifically, we tested whether genetic diversity or differentiation of Asperula cynanchica, Campanula rotundifolia, and Linum catharticum depend on habitat age, landscape structure, habitat quality, and/or population size. Methods We investigated 912 individuals, 304 per study species, from 19 calcareous grasslands across the Swabian Alb in Baden-Württemberg (Germany) using AFLP analyses. Results We observed no significant influence of habitat age on genetic diversity and differentiation. Habitat quality also had no impact on genetic diversity and population size only showed weak effects. However, genetic diversity strongly depended on landscape structure represented by distance to the nearest settlement, total area of surrounding calcareous grasslands, and their connectivity. Conclusions Migratory sheep herding is considered as main land use in calcareous grasslands on the Swabian Alb and thus, landscape structures in the study region may describe movement patterns of grazing livestock. In this study, genetic variation in calcareous grassland populations was strongly affected by surrounding landscape structures and subsequent grazing patterns. Therefore, we assume that moderate grazing intensities over the long term may increase levels of genetic diversity, whereas periods of overgrazing or abandonment could lower genetic diversity.

scholarly journals Honey bee hives decrease wild bee abundance, species richness, and fruit count on farms regardless of wildflower strips

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. Angelella ◽  
C. T. McCullough ◽  
M. E. O’Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Crop Pollination ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Wildflower Strips ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Bee Communities ◽  
Winter Squash ◽  
Bee Abundance

AbstractPollinator refuges such as wildflower strips are planted on farms with the goals of mitigating wild pollinator declines and promoting crop pollination services. It is unclear, however, whether or how these goals are impacted by managed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) hives on farms. We examined how wildflower strips and honey bee hives and/or their interaction influence wild bee communities and the fruit count of two pollinator-dependent crops across 21 farms in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. Although wild bee species richness increased with bloom density within wildflower strips, populations did not differ significantly between farms with and without them whereas fruit counts in both crops increased on farms with wildflower strips during one of 2 years. By contrast, wild bee abundance decreased by 48%, species richness by 20%, and strawberry fruit count by 18% across all farm with honey bee hives regardless of wildflower strip presence, and winter squash fruit count was consistently lower on farms with wildflower strips with hives as well. This work demonstrates that honey bee hives could detrimentally affect fruit count and wild bee populations on farms, and that benefits conferred by wildflower strips might not offset these negative impacts. Keeping honey bee hives on farms with wildflower strips could reduce conservation and pollination services.

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