Environmental factors affecting bee diversity in urban and remote grassland plots in Boulder, Colorado |
| |
Authors: | Carol A Kearns Diana M Oliveras |
| |
Institution: | (1) University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA;(2) Department of Biology, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053-0268, USA; |
| |
Abstract: | Insects provide essential ecological services in both the natural environment and in human-dominated habitats. Because pollinator
declines associated with land use change have been reported across the globe, there is great concern that pollinators and
the ecosystem services they provide will be negatively affected. This study examines the diversity and abundance of bee pollinators
in grasslands in Boulder County, Colorado, USA. Over five years, 5,200 bees were collected in grassland plots with different
levels of urbanization. Most of the difference in species composition among three levels of urbanization was due to rare species
that may not have been discovered in all plots. Neither the number of species nor their abundance differed significantly among
the plot types, although the trend indicated increasing diversity with increasing distance from urbanization. Most notably,
measures of urbanization, such as the amount of pavement and development, were not correlated with diversity. The most important
factor affecting bee abundance, particularly for ground-nesting bees, was grazing regime. Bee abundance also was positively
related to the number of flowering plant species. Other studies of different insects (grasshoppers and butterflies) in these
plots showed results similar to ours. In contrast, previous studies on song-birds, raptors, and rodents showed significant
differences between urban edge and remote plots in terms of organism abundance and diversity. Together, these results suggest
that factors other than the degree of urbanization are important in determining insect abundance and diversity. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|