Characterizing Solitary Bee Communities In The Southern Appalachians And Environmental Factors Predicting Habitat Use
- ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Drew Milavec (Creator)
- Institution
- Appalachian State University (ASU )
- Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
- Advisor
- Jennifer Geib
Abstract: Pollinators, particularly bees, provide essential services for both agricultural and ecosystems worldwide, but data has accumulated documenting population declines, range shifts, and range contractions for many species. Most bee species are understudied, particularly species that are considered ‘solitary,’ those lacking a queen, colony, or division of labor. Instead, solitary bees are individual females that create a nest, lay eggs, and provision offspring all on their own. Understanding the abundance and distribution of bees has become a topic of interest as government programs have encouraged surveying for them. In 2019, I co-coordinated a Citizen Science inventory of pollinating insects on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 470-mile stretch of road that connects Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, to the great Smokey Mountain National Park, North Carolina. Site adopters collected specimens using passive traps (‘bee bowls’) and active netting. Specimens were retrieved biweekly from April-October, 2019. We characterized the abundance, diversity, distribution, and phenology of solitary bee species among our samples. We then used occupancy models to explore variables that may explain habitat usage among the most abundant solitary bees. Among over 8000 total inventory specimens, we collected 5262 solitary bees, comprising five families, 29 genera, and 137 species from 59 sites. Diversity hot spots were observed along the length of the Parkway. Netting was an ineffective capture method for solitary bees, overall. White and fluorescent blue passive traps caught more bees than expected across all families except Colletidae, in which captures were biased toward traps painted fluorescent yellow. Phenology plots revealed distinct windows of activity across the survey period for different species. A species accumulation curve revealed that we have captured most available diversity, but a few rare species are likely undetected.Occupancy models for six species of solitary bees: Eucera hamata, Andrena nivalis, Andrena perplexa, Agapostemon virescens, Agapostemon sericeus, and Osmia taurus. Precipitation and bee preferred plant taxa had large impacts on detection and occupancy of species with elevation not being a factor in my models. This is the first-time occupancy models have been used to study solitary bees on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in the Southern Appalachians. Findings here provide a basis for comparison in the future.
Characterizing Solitary Bee Communities In The Southern Appalachians And Environmental Factors Predicting Habitat Use
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Created on 1/31/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Milavec, D. (2023). Characterizing Solitary Bee Communities In The Southern Appalachians And Environmental Factors Predicting Habitat Use. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Keywords
- Occupancy Models, Solitary bees, Habitat use,
Foraging preferences, Citizen Scientists