PARENT SESSION
Wednesday, August 9, 8:00-11:30 am
COS 51 - Pollination ecology II
L-14, Lobby Level, Cook Convention Center
Presiders: S Pathikonda

Relationships between bee and plant communities in a tropical countryside landscape.

Brosi, Berry^*,, Daily, Gretchen, Oviedo, Federico,

ABSTRACT- Scientific understanding of the factors shaping bee communities is still very limited, as concern over the global pollination crisis has made apparent. In particular, the relationships between bee and plant communities are poorly known due to their multi-level variability, despite the absolute reliance of bees on floral resources. We sampled bees and plants in 31 pasture sites in southern Costa Rica over three years and collected detailed data on floral traits including nectar volume and sugar content; we are currently assessing species-specific pollen protein content. We continue to analyze our data, but preliminary results indicate: 1) inconsistent relationships between plants and bees in both diversity and abundance across years, though plant diversity remains the strongest correlate of bee diversity; 2) relationships between plants and bees are much stronger among net-sampled, as opposed to pan-trapped, bee samples; 3) total floral area and aggregate nectar sugar are the best correlates of bee abundance; 4) several taxon- and character-specific relationships exist between bee and plant groups, including greater abundance of large-bodied bees in nectar-rich sites. Our results contribute to untangling the complex and poorly understood relationship between bee and plant communities, and underscore the importance of flowering forbs in rustically managed pastures as year-round resources for bees in tropical countrysides.

Key words: pollinator decline, human-dominated habitats, bees