scholarly journals Floral Species Richness Correlates with Changes in the Nutritional Quality of Larval Diets in a Stingless Bee

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Trinkl ◽  
Benjamin F. Kaluza ◽  
Helen Wallace ◽  
Tim A. Heard ◽  
Alexander Keller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Nutritional Quality ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Floral Diversity ◽  
Omega 6

Bees need food of appropriate nutritional quality to maintain their metabolic functions. They largely obtain all required nutrients from floral resources, i.e., pollen and nectar. However, the diversity, composition and nutritional quality of floral resources varies with the surrounding environment and can be strongly altered in human-impacted habitats. We investigated whether differences in plant species richness as found in the surrounding environment correlated with variation in the floral diversity and nutritional quality of larval provisions (i.e., mixtures of pollen, nectar and salivary secretions) composed by the mass-provisioning stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria (Apidae: Meliponini). We found that the floral diversity of larval provisions increased with increasing plant species richness. The sucrose and fat (total fatty acid) content and the proportion and concentration of the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid decreased, whereas the proportion of the omega-3 fatty acid linolenic acid increased with increasing plant species richness. Protein (total amino acid) content and amino acid composition did not change. The protein to fat (P:F) ratio, known to affect bee foraging, increased on average by more than 40% from plantations to forests and gardens, while the omega-6:3 ratio, known to negatively affect cognitive performance, decreased with increasing plant species richness. Our results suggest that plant species richness may support T. carbonaria colonies by providing not only a continuous resource supply (as shown in a previous study), but also floral resources of high nutritional quality.

Small areas of wildflower grassland in urban areas support significant species richness and abundance of pollinating insects

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-119
Author(s):  
Louise Hutchinson ◽  
John Norrey ◽  
Alex Lockton ◽  
Emma Coulthard
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Solitary Bees ◽  
Flowering Plant ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Small Areas ◽  
Pollinating Insects

1. Diversity of invertebrate pollinators is essential in supporting flowering plant species richness, including agricultural crops. In the UK, losses are reported for bees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths. Urban green spaces are essential refugia for these groups, and restoration of these areas can improve pollinator diversity through improved floral resources.<br/> 2. Our research aimed to compare two differently managed areas of urban amenity grassland for their insect pollinators, with transect surveys of butterflies, bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies.<br/> 3. Our results revealed that even in an urban matrix, a small area of wildflower meadow had significantly higher insect abundance and species richness than a comparable amenity grassland. Both abundance and species richness of pollinating insects was positively related to floral species richness.<br/> 4. The wildflower grassland supported a number of notable solitary bee species and numerous hoverflies, although visitation by solitary bees was confined to only a small number of flowering plants, exhibiting visitation specialisation; however many of these plant species were not visited by other taxa.

scholarly journals Quality and Conservation of Riparian Forest in a Mountain Subtropical Basin of Argentina

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romina Daiana Fernández ◽  
Sergio Javier Ceballos ◽  
Ana Lucía González Achem ◽  
Margarita del Valle Hidalgo ◽  
Hugo Rafael Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Riparian Forests ◽  
Exotic Plant Species ◽  
Lower Altitude

The aims of this work were to describe the conservation status of riparian forests located in a mountain subtropical basin of Tucumán province, Argentina, and assess how the quality of riparian forests is related with altitude, plant species richness, proportion of exotic species, and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) in adjacent rivers. Composition and species richness of riparian forests were studied at 16 sites located along an altitudinal gradient and TSS was determined from water samples collected in each site. In order to evaluate conservation status of riparian forests, we calculated an index of Quality of Yungas Riparian Forests (QBRy). We recorded 90 plant species at all sites, from which 77% were native. QBRy index was mainly associated with altitude and varied from riparian forests with good preservation or slightly disturbed to those with extreme degradation. At lower altitude, forests were more disturbed, more invaded by exotic plant species, and closer to urban and cropped areas. QBRy was not correlated with species richness or TSS. Like other riparian forests of Argentina, plant species invasion increased their degradation; therefore, future studies should focus on native riparian forests conservation and on the management of invasive plant species, which affect their quality.

scholarly journals Family graveyards form underappreciated local plant diversity hotspots in China's agricultural landscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Gong ◽  
Liangtao Li ◽  
Jan C. Axmarcher ◽  
Zhenrong Yu ◽  
Yunhui Liu
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Habitat Islands ◽  
Local Plant ◽  
Ecological Functioning

AbstractIn the intensively farmed, homogenous agricultural landscape of the North China Plain, family graveyards form distinct cultural landscape features. In addition to their cultural value, these graveyards represent semi-natural habitat islands whose potential roles in biodiversity conservation and ecological functioning has remained poorly understood. In this study, we investigated plant species richness on 199 family graveyards of different ages and sizes. In accordance with biogeography theory, both overall and insect-pollinated plant species richness increased with area and age of graveyards. Even small graveyards show a strong potential for conserving local plant richness, and a mosaic of both large and small family graveyards could play an important role in the conservation of farmland biodiversity and related ecosystem functions. The launch of agri-environmental measures that conserve and create semi-natural habitats, in turn benefitting agricultural biodiversity and ecological functioning, has proven difficult in China due to the shortage of dispensable arable land. Given the great value of family graveyards as semi-natural habitats reflected in our study, we propose to focus preliminary efforts on conserving these landscape features as existing, widespread and culturally important semi-natural habitat islands. This would represent an effective, complementary policy to a subsequent re-establishment of other semi-natural habitats for the conservation of biodiversity and ecological functioning in agricultural landscapes.

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