The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) once contained nearly 9.7 million ha of bottomland hardwood forest and associated habitats. Over 80% of the MAV was eliminated or modified for agriculture, flood control, and urban expansion. Loss and fragmentation of herbaceous and riparian-forested plant communities of the Delta could negativity impact native bee populations. Landscapes with natural plant communities adjacent to agricultural croplands serve as important nesting habitats and provide nutritional resources for native bees. Despite the potential importance of wetland and associated habitats to native bees, there is virtually no historical documentation of bees in these natural landscapes of the MAV. To begin quantifying native bee species abundance and richness, we surveyed Wetland Reserve Program (n=14) and National Wildlife Refuge (n=4) lands of the Mississippi Delta, June-November, 2017. At each site, we used three standardized collection methods that included bee bowl platform (height-adjustable), malaise, and vane traps to sample bees. We established traps along a line transect, located within 1200 meters from a wetland habitat. We hypothesized that species richness increases with habitat complexity and in early succession (≤ 2 years since last disturbance) vegetation, which would harbor greater bee abundance and diversity than older sites.
Results/Conclusions
We collected approximately 30,000 specimens across all 18 research sites. Bee bowl platform and blue-lid vane traps captured the greatest number of native bees compared to malaise and yellow-lid vane traps on our wetlands; yellow-lid vane traps were least effective for captures. Our data represent only one year and are preliminary, but suggest that the number of native bees captured in traps located within wetland habitats increases with habitat complexity and floral availability.