University of Nebraska at Kearney Kearney, NE, United States
Native bee conservation near agricultural lands has recently become a topic of interest and there is a growing trend of research that has looked at the utility of floral resources over different spatial and temporal scales with significant increases in overall native bee diversity. These differing spatial and temporal scales have made it difficult to assess and generalize across studies. Here, we have attempted to create a comprehensive dataset of native bee responses to floral strips and non-agricultural vegetation being implemented as floral resources to attract and support more diversity at bee population and community levels within overwhelmingly agricultural landscapes. Specifically, we have obtained information on native bee species richness and abundance in two treatment areas (floral strips and non-agricultural vegetation) and have compared them using a meta-analysis. Our preliminary findings resulted in opposing outcomes for resource type and suggest that native bee richness was not significantly affected by either floral resource treatment but trended towards an increase with floral strips (P = 0.06); whereas native bee abundance significantly increased with non-agricultural vegetation bordering agricultural fields (P < 0.0001), while floral strips showed no difference in abundance to control fields (P = 0.261). We found that the best way to increase overall native bee diversity is with non-agricultural areas (i.e., remnants, hedgerows, other semi-natural areas) creating a mosaic within agricultural landscapes that support bee communities with necessary resources other than pollen. Land managers should take local bee/habitat interactions into account when deciding what floral resource to promote. In some cases, a combination of conservation tactics may be more advantageous.
