It is relatively unclear to what extent habitat restoration such as incorporating strips of prairie plants into corn and soybean can support species of native bees. In this study we assessed the pattern of common versus uncommon species of native bees in four sites in Iowa with varying forb vegetation mixes in comparison to corn and soybean cropped fields. We determined identity and percent cover of blooming species in contour strips during the growing season (May to August) of 2016 and 2017. We concomitantly used a variety of common sampling methods to capture bees during the growing season in strips and in paired cropped areas.
Results/Conclusions
Our results showed that incorporation of prairie strips into the cropland promoted bee community significantly. Also, the abundance pattern of uncommon bee species in the communities in different sites was highly matched with the forb coverage among sites. Whereas this level of correlation was absent when the entire bee community including common species was considered. This showed us floral resources in prairie strips essentially maintained the uncommon bee species. Regardless of the year of the experiment, sites planted to soybean had higher bee abundance than sites planted to corn, indicating the importance of the adjacent crop type to the prairie strips in attracting higher bee community diversity. Within farm habitat restoration such as incorporating strips of native prairie vegetation may be essential for sustaining uncommon native pollinator abundance in the future.