Abstract
Urban bee ecology is an emerging field that holds promise for advancing knowledge of bee community dynamics and promoting bee conservation. Published studies of bee communities in urban and suburban habitats are fewer than those documenting bees in agricultural and wildland settings. As land lost to urbanization is predicted to increase in coming years the necessity of studying urban bee populations is growing. We reviewed 59 publications on urban bee ecology with the following goals, to assess current knowledge, to highlight areas in need of further research, and to suggest applications of study findings to bee conservation. Identified trends in urban areas included the following, negative correlation between bee species richness and urban development, increase in abundance of cavity-nesters in urban habitats, and scarcity of floral specialists. Future directions for studying urban bee ecology include incorporation of landscape-scale assessments, conducting manipulative experiments and actively designing urban bee habitats.
Highlights
Little is known about urban bee fauna as we are only beginning to document their community dynamics including patterns of species diversity and abundance
In agricultural and wildland settings, bees contribute to ecosystem function as pollinators of a majority of crop (Klein et al 2007) and angiosperm species, with an estimated 85% of angiosperms relying on bee pollinators (Moldenke 1976; Simpson 1977; Moldenke 1979; Frankie and Thorp 2002). Their ubiquitous presence and importance in non-urban habitats has led to many publications on wild bee ecology and conservation but publications on urban bee ecology are much fewer
We ask: which trends have been identified, which areas lack sufficient data and how can we apply current knowledge to bee conservation? We present and discuss scope and design of urban bee studies, emerging trends in urban bee ecology, and future directions for the field
Summary
Little is known about urban bee fauna as we are only beginning to document their community dynamics including patterns of species diversity and abundance. In agricultural and wildland settings, bees contribute to ecosystem function as pollinators of a majority of crop (Klein et al 2007) and angiosperm species, with an estimated 85% of angiosperms relying on bee pollinators (Moldenke 1976; Simpson 1977; Moldenke 1979; Frankie and Thorp 2002). Their ubiquitous presence and importance in non-urban habitats has led to many publications on wild bee ecology and conservation but publications on urban bee ecology are much fewer. Elucidation of causal relationships between community composition and habitat characteristics may provide information useful for bee conservation, especially as it applies to urban habitat construction
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