Urban parks as a functional area for the maintenance and diversity of bee populations

Abstract

Urbanization restricts native vegetation to small fragments surrounded by paved areas, grasses and degraded areas that strongly affects several biotic communities, including pollinator populations, which are not only greatly affected, but are also declining in several parts of the world. Bees are considered to be the main organisms to perform pollination, as they need to visit a great number of flowers daily to satisfy their individual food needs, their offspring and their colony, since they depend on floral resources at all stages of their life. Thus, the aim of this study was to verify the effectiveness of urban parks as refuges for bee species, having its veracity as a hypothesis. It was considered to evaluate the diversity of bees and their foraging activities in plant species in two urban parks over a year located in the city of Dourados-MS/Brazil. Sampling was performed every two weeks, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for 13 months, from 2019 to 2020. For this purpose, active samplings were carried out with an aerial entomological net. Bee species were found distributed in 5 families: Apidae, Halictidae, Colletidae, Megachilidae and Andrenidae. Apis mellifera was the most abundant species followed by Trigona spinipes. Considering the two parks, 34 species of bees visiting 33 plant species were sampled. Results suggest that urban parks represent a significant area for maintenance of bee populations in the city of Dourados - MS, protecting a very diverse fauna, confirming the hypothesis that urban parks represent relevant and functional areas for bees, helping in the diversity maintenance of these pollinating organisms.