Role of floral strips and semi-natural habitats as enhancers of wild bee functional diversity in intensive agricultural landscapes

Abstract

Installing patches of flowering plants is a commonly used strategy to enhance refuge and food resources for pollinators in intensive agricultural landscapes. Here, we evaluated how floral strips and semi-natural habitats impact the taxonomic and functional diversity of wild bees in intensively farmed sunflower fields. Pan traps were used to assess bee richness and functional diversity at 22 sampling sites (11 sites were positioned in sunflower fields with floral strips, and 11 control sites were adjacent to semi-natural habitats). Five sampling levels were established in each field, positioned at different distances from the flower strip or semi-natural habitat. Wild bee species richness and functional richness were significantly higher inside floral strips and semi-natural habitats compared to sunflower fields. Functional redundancy was significantly higher inside agricultural fields compared to inside floral strips and semi-natural habitats. Sunflower fields with floral strips had lower Rao values compared to sunflower fields adjacent to semi-natural habitats. The community-weighted mean (CWM) of intertegular distance (distance between where wings attach to body) of wild bees was significantly higher in sunflower fields adjacent to semi-natural habitats. In comparison, the CWM of wing length varied across sampling levels in sunflower fields with semi-natural habitats. Our results show it is essential to have semi-natural habitats within intensive agricultural landscapes to ensure the conservation of wild bee diversity, while the installation of floral strips offers a partial substitute to enhance wild bee diversity when semi-natural habitats are scarce or absent.