Nestedness of bee assemblages in an endemic South American forest: the role of pine matrix and small fragments

Abstract

We assessed species richness and distribution of the apoidean fauna of the coastal Maulino forest, an endemic and threatened forest in central Chile. Remnant forest fragments are immersed in commercial pine plantations, who act as the habitat matrix. The bee assemblages depict a non-nested structure at the landscape level at times when pine plantations are standing. However, assemblages are nested in the fauna of forest fragments at times when plantations are harvested, suggesting that plantations might be acting as habitat providing connectivity between remnants of Maulino forest. Therefore, the conservation of apoideans might require a landscape level approach to be successful, including partial reliance on plantations.