For many species, the matrix is vital to movement and resource availability affecting dispersal and persistence. High quality matrix habitats can help habitat patches support greater diversity by offering more and/or complementary resources. Complementary resources can increase overall trait diversity supported in communities. While these effects have been investigated separately for bees, few studies have considered the interactive effects of matrix habitats on bee diversity. Additionally, the effects of the matrix on bees has largely been researched in agroecosystema which makes it difficult to disentangle anthropogenic effects from spatial and resource effects. Using a naturally fragmented system we examine three key ways the matrix habitat can effect bee diversity in fragments: 1) movement, 2) resource availability and complementarity, and 3) changing species area relationships. Surprisingly, bees were unlikely to move regardless of matrix quality with almost 90% of bees staying in home patches. While we anticipated more dissimilar matrix resources promoting greater bee species diversity in patches we found the opposite with more open and similar matrices functionally altering species area relationships especially for small patches. This may be a unique response of bees due to assymetric relationships with plants. Restoration and conservation should focus on increasing patch diversity as total resource availability seemed more important than movement for increasing diversity.
