Agricultural field margins provide food and nesting resources to bumble bees (Bombus spp., Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Southwestern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Abstract Bumble bees are declining globally, largely due to habitat loss driven by agricultural intensification. Within agriculturally dominated landscapes, semi‐natural habitats (e.g. meadows, wetland edges) are fragmented, increasing the value of uncropped agricultural field margins for providing a source of food, nesting, and hibernation resources to bumble bees. We compared bumble bee communities sampled in agricultural field margins and semi‐natural habitats across Southwestern Ontario, Canada in order to assess differences in habitat quality. We then examined the effect of floral resources and soil characteristics on the bumble bee communities present in each site, independent of the habitat type classification. Our data revealed that bumble bee abundance, diversity, and community composition did not differ between habitat types. However, when examined independently of habitat type, bumble bee abundance and diversity increased with floral abundance, floral diversity, the number of rodent holes, and sandy soil texture. These results suggest that agricultural field margins are not inherently degraded bumble bee habitat and have the potential to provide food and nesting resources comparable to semi‐natural habitats in a fragmented agricultural landscape. Ensuring field margins contain the necessary floral resources and soil characteristics for bumble bees has implications for conservation and mitigating habitat loss caused by the agricultural fields themselves.