Forest-associated bee species persist amid forest loss and regrowth in eastern North America

Smith, Colleen; Harrison, Tina; Gardner, Joel; Winfree, Rachael

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109202

Cited by 28 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Targeting conservation in this way would increase habitat connectivity across landscapes (Senapathi et al, 2017 ), and link with seminatural habitats, such as small forest blocks and low‐intensity agriculture. These seminatural habitats for which insect abundance and pollen–insect interactions were limited, often have high habitat specialization (Smith et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Myrtaceae are a characteristic plant family in Australian forests, including the iconic Eucalypts, that are a major food source for many generalist pollinator groups and some specialist bees, such as Colletids (Beardsell et al, 1993 ; Phillips et al, 2010 ). There is growing evidence that some bees are also forest specialists (Harrison et al, 2017 ; Smith et al, 2021 ). The very few interactions in forest habitats here would indicate that there are likely few pollinators available to visit Myrtaceae flowers when needed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pollen–insect interaction meta‐networks identify key relationships for conservation in mosaic agricultural landscapes

Hall

Stavert

Saunders

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Flower visitors use different parts of the landscape through the plants they visit, however these connections vary within and among land uses. Identifying which flower‐visiting insects are carrying pollen, and from where in the landscape, can elucidate key pollen–insect interactions and identify the most important sites for maintaining community‐level interactions across land uses. We developed a bipartite meta‐network, linking pollen–insect interactions with the sites they occur in. We used this to identify which land‐use types at the site‐ and landscape‐scale (within 500 m of a site) are most important for conserving pollen–insect interactions. We compared pollen–insect interactions across four different land uses (remnant native forest, avocado orchard, dairy farm, rotational potato crop) within a mosaic agricultural landscape. We sampled insects using flight intercept traps, identified pollen carried on their bodies and quantified distinct pollen–insect interactions that were highly specialized to both natural and modified land uses. We found that sites in crops and dairy farms had higher richness of pollen–insect interactions and higher interaction strength than small forest patches and orchards. Further, many interactions involved pollinator groups such as flies, wasps, and beetles that are often under‐represented in pollen–insect network studies, but were often connector species in our networks. These insect groups require greater attention to enable wholistic pollinator community conservation. Pollen samples were dominated by grass (Poaceae) pollen, indicating anemophilous plant species may provide important food resources for pollinators, particularly in modified land uses. Field‐scale land use (within 100 m of a site) better predicted pollen–insect interaction richness, uniqueness, and strength than landscape‐scale. Thus, management focused at smaller scales may provide more tractable outcomes for conserving or restoring pollen–insect interactions in modified landscapes. For instance, actions aimed at linking high‐richness sites with those containing unique (i.e., rare) interactions by enhancing floral corridors along field boundaries and between different land uses may best aid interaction diversity and connectance. The ability to map interactions across sites using a meta‐network approach is practical and can inform land‐use planning, whereby conservation efforts can be targeted toward areas that host key interactions between plant and pollinator species.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen–insect interaction meta‐networks identify key relationships for conservation in mosaic agricultural landscapes

Hall

Stavert

Saunders

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another third were open‐habitat species while the remainder were classified as habitat generalists. Although previous studies from that region have shown a negative relationship between forest cover and total bee diversity (Winfree et al, 2007 ), Smith et al ( 2021 ) reported a positive relationship between the amount of forest area and the diversity of forest‐associated species. Moreover, Harrison et al ( 2018 ) concluded that forest bees are largely replaced in agricultural and urban environments by species adapted to open habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Such discrepancies may be driven by differences in habitat associations among bee taxa. For example, Smith et al ( 2021 ) found that about a third of all bees in the northeastern United States are associated with forests. Another third were open‐habitat species while the remainder were classified as habitat generalists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Rhododendron removal and prescribed fire on bees and plants in the southern Appalachians

Ulyshen

Elliott

Scott

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rhododendron maximum is an evergreen shrub native to the Appalachian Mountains of North America that has expanded in recent decades due to past disturbances and land management. The purpose of this study was to explore how bees and plants were affected by the experimental removal of R . maximum followed by a prescribed fire in one watershed compared to a neighboring reference watershed. Bees and plants were sampled for three years in both watersheds. Comparisons were based on the rarefaction and extrapolation sampling curves of Hill numbers as well as multivariate methods to assess effects on community composition. Bee richness, Shannon's diversity, and Simpson's diversity did not differ between watersheds in the year after removal but were all significantly higher in the removal watershed in year two, following the prescribed fire. Bee Shannon's diversity and Simpson's diversity, but not richness, remained significantly higher in the removal watershed in the third year. Similar but weaker patterns were observed for plants. Comparisons of community composition found significant differences for bees in the second and third year and significant differences for plants in all three years. For both groups, significant indicator taxa were mostly associated with the removal watershed. Because bees appeared to respond more strongly to the prescribed fire than to the removal of R . maximum and these benefits weakened considerably one year after the fire, clearing R . maximum does not appear to dramatically improve pollinator habitat in the southern Appalachians. This conclusion is underscored by the fact that about one quarter of the bee species in our study area were observed visiting R . maximum flowers. The creation of open areas with wildflowers may be a better way to benefit bees in this region judging from the high diversity of bees captured in the small roadside clearings in this study.

show abstract

“…Bees and other flower-visitors are critically important to the reproductive success of many plants in both natural and agricultural systems (Ollerton et al, 2011) and there is a growing appreciation for the importance of forests to these insects. In the northeastern United States, for example, about a third of all bee species are considered forest-associated (Smith et al, 2021). Forests provide a wide variety of floral resources including the flowers of both windand animal-pollinated trees (Splitt et al, 2021) as well as those of shrubs and herbs in the understory.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decadal Patterns of Forest and Pollinator Recovery Following the Eradication of an Invasive Shrub

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Invasive non-native woody shrubs pose a major threat to forested ecosystems in many parts of the world and there is an urgent need for research on the restoration and recovery of these areas. We studied patterns of tree growth and regeneration 13 years after the experimental eradication (by chainsaw or mulching machine followed by herbicide treatments) of Ligustrum sinense Lour. (Chinese privet) from riparian forests in Georgia, United States. We also followed the recovery of bee and butterfly populations using sites with no history of privet invasion as a reference. By the end of the study, the basal area of restored plots was 24% greater, on average, than still-invaded control plots. Because tree growth rates did not differ among treatments, this increase is attributable to the 60% increase in the number of regenerating native stems (dominated by Acer negundo L.) following privet removal. The benefits of privet removal on pollinators were immediate and long-lasting with the richness and abundance of bees and butterflies being consistently higher in restored plots than in control plots. The diversity, abundance, and composition of bees in restored and reference (i.e., never invaded) plots were comparable by the end of the study. This was less true for butterflies, however, possibly due to the legacy effects of privet invasion on plant communities. Our results demonstrate the long-term benefits of removing privet on forest regeneration and pollinator communities. Indeed, without such efforts, it is probable that forest cover will gradually thin and ultimately disappear from privet-invaded areas as overstory trees die without replacement.

show abstract

Forest-associated bee species persist amid forest loss and regrowth in eastern North America

Cited by 28 publications

References 64 publications

Pollen–insect interaction meta‐networks identify key relationships for conservation in mosaic agricultural landscapes

Pollen–insect interaction meta‐networks identify key relationships for conservation in mosaic agricultural landscapes

Effects of Rhododendron removal and prescribed fire on bees and plants in the southern Appalachians

Decadal Patterns of Forest and Pollinator Recovery Following the Eradication of an Invasive Shrub

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About