Abstract
BackgroundForested landscapes are valuable sources of ecosystem services especially in areas dedicated to intense agricultural activities. Distance from forest margin is known to influence the wild bee community in the landscape surrounding forested patches. Yet little is known regarding how bee communities distribute themselves in landscapes that exhibit different forest successional states.MethodsWe examined how land use type and distance from the forest edge affect the abundance and richness of the wild bee community across four forest successional states. Bees were collected in sites representing four stages of forest succession and analyzed using generalized linear mixed models with negative binomial distributions.ResultsWild bee diversity is reduced in forested environments that maintain dense stands of trees and high canopy cover. Additionally, distance from the forest edge was an important factor determining wild bee distribution in successional stages adjacent to forest edges. Furthermore, we found that bees maintain high specificity for distinct successional states and distances.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate how different successional stages can harbor different bee species and highlight the ability of microhabitats to act as reservoirs of bee diversity in and around forest margins. Furthermore, we found that maximizing successional patchiness across forested landscapes increases the amount of available habitat that can support a diverse suite of bees with different nesting biologies and behaviors.
Highlights
Forested landscapes are valuable sources of ecosystem services especially in areas dedicated to intense agricultural activities
We examined the effects of four unique stages of forest succession in order to 1) investigate the effects of successional stage and distance from forest margins on wild bee abundance and richness, 2) identify how nesting and behavioral traits create specificity for wild bee species in different successional stages, and 3) describe the wild bee community in New England forest systems for the first time
Distance Our results indicate that the overall distribution of wild bees across different distances near forest margins is determined by nesting biology and perhaps the availability of specific nesting resources
Summary
Forested landscapes are valuable sources of ecosystem services especially in areas dedicated to intense agricultural activities. Forested environments, including forest margins, provide ample resources that bees may not find in agriculturally intensive areas This includes spring foraging sources, such as understory flowers and herbaceous plants, as well as nesting habitats in tree cavities and dead broken sticks and in bare ground (Aizen and Feinsinger 1994; De Marco and Coelho 2004; Taki et al 2007; Winfree et al 2007; Farwig et al 2009; Taki et al 2013; Bailey et al 2014; Hanula et al 2015; Joshi et al 2016). If this is the case, subtle differences in where bees distribute themselves from a forest edge could be detected at finer scales, yet this remains largely unexplored
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