Wild bees respond differently to sampling traps with vanes of different colors and light reflectivity in a livestock pasture ecosystem

Abstract

Wild bees are important pollinators and monitoring their abundance and diversity is necessary to develop conservation protocols. It is imperative to understand differences in sampling efficiency among different trap types to help guide monitoring efforts. This study used a new vane trap design to collect bees in a livestock pasture ecosystem and examined the impact of six different vane colors on wild bee sampling. We recorded 2230 bees comprising 49 species and five families. The most abundant species were Augochlorella aurata (25.8%), Lasioglossum disparile (18.3%), Lasioglossum imitatum (10.85%), Agapostemon texanus (10.8%), Melissodes vernoniae (9.9%) and Halictus ligatus (4.7%). Traps with bright blue vanes captured the greatest number and diversity of bees as compared to traps with bright yellow, dark blue, dark yellow, and purple vanes. Red vanes had the lowest captures rates of individuals and species. Different colors were associated with different bee species arrays and only nine species were found in all vane color types. Vanes with higher light reflectance properties (within 400–600 nm range) attracted the greatest number of bees. These results show that different light wavelengths and reflectivity of vane traps influence bee capture rates, and such findings can help optimize bee sampling methods in different ecosystems.

Canopy sampling reveals hidden potential value of woodland trees for wild bee assemblages

“…BanfieldBio™ blue vane traps (BVTs) were used to catch bees. These are effective in trapping a diversity of bee species, including larger‐bodied taxa—such as bumblebees—which are underrepresented in pan traps (Prendergast et al, 2020); and of the commercially available vane colours (also including yellow), blue traps consistently catch the highest bee abundance and diversity (Acharya et al, 2022; Prendergast et al, 2020). Vane traps are also suitable for canopy sampling—they are designed to be hung, and their collecting jars offer secure storage for specimens.…”

“…Yellow circles represent additional sites in which a single canopy trap was present (n = 2). Source: Image ©2021 Google, annotations by G. Allen highest bee abundance and diversity (Acharya et al, 2022;Prendergast et al, 2020). Vane traps are also suitable for canopy sampling-they are designed to be hung, and their collecting jars offer secure storage for specimens.…”

Common fluorescent Pseudomonas in the phyllosphere can influence aphid behavior in diverse ways

“…This scenario is similar to the idea of an ecological trap, in which biases for certain types of habitat drive animals to choose environments where they ultimately have lower fitness (Hale and Swearer 2016). Such traps have been shown for insects that are attracted to certain colors or polarized light, such as mayflies laying eggs on asphalt roads (Kriska et al 1998; Horváth et al 2010; Boda et al 2014; Acharya et al 2022). In previous work we found that avoidance of blue fluorescence may be adaptive because it protected aphids from infection by more virulent bacteria (Hendry et al 2018).…”

Influence of Sexual Dimorphism and Dichromatism on Reproductive Success in a Rare Native Cactus

“…With respect to color, females are usually found to be in orange-red shades while males tend to be mostly in brighter colors of green-yellow shades. This trait is potentially advantageous to males because pollinators, especially bees, tend to be attracted to brighter colors, such as yellow flowers, and the male reproductive success depends mainly on pollen dispersal (Acharya et al 2022). However, there is no strict dimorphism cutoff in the flower color trait.…”