Pollen specialists are more endangered than non-specialised bees even though they collect pollen on flowers of non-endangered plants

Bogusch, Petr; Bláhová, Eliška; Horák, Jakub

doi:10.1007/s11829-020-09789-y

Cited by 27 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This may also be true of pollen specialization, termed oligolecty in bees (Cane & Sipes, 2006). Oligolecty has been correlated with an increased risk of bee species decline (Bartomeus et al, 2013;Biesmeijer et al, 2006;Bogusch et al, 2020;Burkle et al, 2013) and differences in floral composition between prairie restorations and remnants may exclude oligolectic bees if their host plants are not represented in restorations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in bee community composition between restored and remnant prairies are more strongly linked to forb community differences than landscape differences

Lane

Portman

Herron-Sweet

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Grassland restoration is an important tool for conserving bee biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. Restorations foster increases in local bee abundance and α-diversity; however, these measures are insufficient for understanding whether remnant communities are being conserved. We compared native bee α-diversity, β-diversity and community composition between restored and remnant prairies in Minnesota, USA. We then investigated two potential drivers of bee community dissimilarity between restored and remnant prairies: proportion of agricultural land surrounding a restoration and differences in floral community between restored and remnant prairies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in bee community composition between restored and remnant prairies are more strongly linked to forb community differences than landscape differences

Lane

Portman

Herron-Sweet

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Pollen specialization to a single plant species is very rare and floral specialization is often for all or several species within a plant genus, multiple genera or related families [ 19 , 73 ]. Thus, in our study, we have excluded species-level plant information and only compared forage plants at the genus level for each of the Danish bee species.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating competition for forage plants between honey bees and wild bees in Denmark

et al. 2021

Self Cite

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A recurrent concern in nature conservation is the potential competition for forage plants between wild bees and managed honey bees. Specifically, that the highly sophisticated system of recruitment and large perennial colonies of honey bees quickly exhaust forage resources leading to the local extirpation of wild bees. However, different species of bees show different preferences for forage plants. We here summarize known forage plants for honey bees and wild bee species at national scale in Denmark. Our focus is on floral resources shared by honey bees and wild bees, with an emphasis on both threatened wild bee species and foraging specialist species. Across all 292 known bee species from Denmark, a total of 410 plant genera were recorded as forage plants. These included 294 plant genera visited by honey bees and 292 plant genera visited by different species of wild bees. Honey bees and wild bees share 176 plant genera in Denmark. Comparing the pairwise niche overlap for individual bee species, no significant relationship was found between their overlap and forage specialization or conservation status. Network analysis of the bee-plant interactions placed honey bees aside from most other bee species, specifically the module containing the honey bee had fewer links to any other modules, while the remaining modules were more highly inter-connected. Despite the lack of predictive relationship from the pairwise niche overlap, data for individual species could be summarized. Consequently, we have identified a set of operational parameters that, based on a high foraging overlap (>70%) and unfavorable conservation status (Vulnerable+Endangered+Critically Endangered), can guide both conservation actions and land management decisions in proximity to known or suspected populations of these species.

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“…In everyday language, we mainly talk about bees and do not distinguish between species within the Apidae family. Moreover, for the general public, bees are synonymous with honeybees whose fate is closely followed due to their role not only as pollinators but especially as honey and beeswax producers [23].…”

Section: A Bee or Not A Bee? A Matter Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

SAD but True: Species Awareness Disparity in Bees Is a Result of Bee-Less Biology Lessons in Germany

Christ

2022

Sustainability

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Bee and insect mortality has recently moved to the forefront of current nature conservation debates and experiences intensive media coverage worldwide. In order to understand the complexity, it is necessary to raise awareness of the diversity of bees. This study investigated whether students are aware of the species diversity of bees. We are guided by the concept of ‘plant blindness’ and show that it cannot be assumed that people are only ’plant-blind’. Therefore, we introduce the concept of Species Awareness Disparity (SAD) in bees to describe a phenomenon which can be defined as the failure to appreciate the significance of wild bee species and the inability to distinguish between individual species of the Apidae family. A total of 421 German students in grades 5–7 participated. The majority of students did not associate a diversity of species with the term ‘wild bee’ but rather consider the honeybee as the bee. Only 2.7% (N = 421) of the students were able to correctly identify pictures of wild bees and the honeybee. This highlights the importance of educating students about the identity and nature of bees in their environment so that they become aware of their meaning from both a personal and an ecological perspective.

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Pollen specialists are more endangered than non-specialised bees even though they collect pollen on flowers of non-endangered plants

Cited by 27 publications

References 46 publications

Differences in bee community composition between restored and remnant prairies are more strongly linked to forb community differences than landscape differences

Differences in bee community composition between restored and remnant prairies are more strongly linked to forb community differences than landscape differences

Evaluating competition for forage plants between honey bees and wild bees in Denmark

SAD but True: Species Awareness Disparity in Bees Is a Result of Bee-Less Biology Lessons in Germany

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