10.5061/DRYAD.PZGMSBCJ8
Seitz, Nicola
0000-0003-1048-5171
University of Würzburg
vanEngelsdorp, Dennis
University of Maryland, College Park
Leonhardt, Sara D.
Technical University Munich
Are native and non-native pollinator friendly plants equally valuable for
native wild bee communities?
Dryad
dataset
2020
FOS: Biological sciences
Explorers Club
https://ror.org/03tknt305
Graduate School of Life Sciences, University of Würzburg*
German Academic Exchange Service
https://ror.org/039djdh30
Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Art
https://ror.org/01a44gd51
Graduate School of Life Sciences, University of Würzburg
2021-09-02T00:00:00Z
2020-10-14T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6826
807516 bytes
3
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Bees rely on floral pollen and nectar for food. Therefore, pollinator
friendly plantings are often used to enrich habitats in bee conservation
efforts. As part of these plantings, non-native plants may provide
valuable floral resources, but their effects on native bee communities
have not been assessed in direct comparison with native pollinator
friendly plantings. In this study, we performed a common garden experiment
by seeding mixes of 20 native and 20 non-native pollinator friendly plant
species at separate neighboring plots at three sites in Maryland, USA, and
recorded flower visitors for two years. A total of 3744 bees (120 species)
were collected. Bee abundance and species richness was either similar
across plant types (mid-season and for abundance also late season) or
lower at native than at non-native plots (early season and for richness
also late season). The overall bee community composition differed
significantly between native and non-native plots, with 11 and 23 bee
species found exclusively at one plot type or the other, respectively.
Additionally, some species were more abundant at native plant plots, while
others were more abundant at non-natives. Native plants hosted more
specialized plant-bee visitation networks than non-native plants. Three
species out of the five most abundant bee species were more specialized
when foraging on native plants than on non-native plants. Overall,
visitation networks were more specialized in the early season than in late
seasons. Our findings suggest that non-native plants can benefit native
pollinators, but may alter foraging patterns, bee community assemblage,
and bee-plant network structures.
Bees sampled with pan traps and by hand netting at experimental plots with
native and non-native pollinator friendly plants in Maryland from
2016-2017.