Pithy stems - An effective and viable option to conserve sub social and solitary bees and wasps

Abstract

Artificial trap nesting of bees will help in their conservation in situ and utilizing them for enhancing pollination service in cropping systems. The present study was undertaken to study the nesting behavior and rate of acceptance of pithy stems for nesting by the different bee species at ICAR-NBAIR Yelahanka Campus (13.096792N, 77.565976E). Fifteen nests comprising of pithy stems of Caesalpinia pulcherrima each made into three bundles containing five nests each were placed at three places in two sites viz. , Site 1 (Pollinator Garden) and Site 2 (Vegetable block). The days taken by the bees to accept the trap nests placed in the pollinator garden and vegetable field were found to be 5.87 and 11.53 days with a percent acceptance of 80 and 66.67 per cent, respectively. The average number of cells built by the bees in the nests obtained from the pollinator garden and vegetable ecosystem were found to be 6.00 and 5.33 respectively. Ceratina binghami, C. hieroglyphica, Megachile lerma and predatory sphecid wasps were found to emerge out from the trap nests. Diversity of the stem nesting bees was found to be higher in the nests placed in the pollinator garden as compared to vegetable block.