Mark-recapture experiments reveal foraging behavior and plant fidelity of native bees in plant nurseries.

Abstract

Understanding the spatial and temporal foraging patterns of pollinators is essential to conserving these organisms in human-modified landscapes, such as agroecosystems (Cranmer et al. 2011). Particularly, understanding foraging fidelity (i.e., returns to a particular plant species or area) is crucial for providing supportive habitats. Numerous approaches have been used to discern the movement and foraging of individual bees (reviewed by Mola & Williams 2019), ranging from highly technological to more traditional methods like mark-release-recapture experiments. While mark-recapture experiments are often hampered by low recapture rates, density dependence, and logistical constraints (Mola and Williams 2019), they can help us understand short-term local movement patterns (Dorchin et al. 2013) and fidelity (Ogilvie and Thomson 2016) of highly mobile organisms like bees.