Impact of land use patterns on bee communities in the north of Côte d'Ivoire (West Africa)

Abstract

AbstractNatural and protected area degradation constitutes a threat to bee communities and could decrease crop yield by reducing bee pollination effectiveness. For West Africa, changes in bee communities across disturbance gradients from savannah to agricultural land are mainly unknown. Our study aimed to assess the impact of land use patterns on bee communities in the department of Korhogo. We chose three sites of varying disturbance intensity (low, medium and high disturbance). Bees were caught using pan traps. Abundance, richness, evenness and community structure of bees were assessed. During 6 months of sampling, 3176 bee specimens belonging to three families (Apidae, Halictidae and Megachilidae) were caught, comprising 18 species and 15 genera. Species richness of Halictidae and abundance of Apidae were highest (F = 93.86; p = 0.0051). The station with low disturbance was more diversified (H′ = 2.75). Bee average abundance was higher in sites with medium disturbance. Our findings are relevant to biodiversity conservation. They show that bee diversity is high where the disturbance level is still low.