Native bee species diversity

and abundance:West Eugene WetlandsJennifer Bergh

Mentor: Dr. Sujaya Rao

Crop & Soil Science Department

HHMI Research Program

Summer 2008Agapostemon sp.

West Eugene Wetlands

Wetland prairie restoration site Variety of habitat types:

Wet prairie Upland prairie Oak savanna

Past and ongoing research: Site preparation Plant successional dynamics Management of native & invasive plant

communities

Insect Fauna of the WEW

Butterflies 49 species

Dragonflies & Damselflies 44 species

Native bees Incomplete fauna

American Rubyspot(Hetaerina americana)

Flora of the WEW

350 species of plants

Rare plants Lomatium bradshawii Lupinus sulphureus ssp. kincaidii Erigeron decumbens Aster curtus Horkelia congesta

NW American Native Bees

Natural history 10% social and semi-social 10% parasitic 80% solitary

Nest provisioning Contact between mother and offspring Emergence

Continuum: semi-social intermediaries

(Stephen 1969)

Why study native bees?

Ecosystem parameters

Identification of rare plant-pollinator interactions

Restoration planning

Community education

Darwin’s Cats, Bees & Clover

The identification of complex relationships

clover → bumblebees → mice → cats

The misnomer of doing “just one thing”

(Darwin 1866)

Objectives

Catalog native bee populations at WEW Determine if two threatened Bombus species

are present Bombus occidentalis Bombus franklini

Identify associations between specific pollinators and native plant hosts

Hypotheses

Hypothesis #1 The West Eugene Wetlands flora and bee fauna

are representative of Willamette Valley flora and bee fauna.

Hypothesis #2 The West Eugene Wetlands flora and bee fauna

are more diverse than those of the majority of the Willamette Valley.

Research Products

Preliminary bee fauna

Preliminary phenology data

Reference collections for WEW and OSU

Methods

Trapping

Sweep netting

Two minute counts

Observation

Blue fluorescent trap

Bees of the West Eugene Wetlands Preliminary counts

Total bees collected, all methods: 562 June – September 2008

Seasonal weather

Spring-Summer collection patterns Seasonal population dynamics Collection locations

Bees of the West Eugene Wetlands Apidae

Bombus spp.: 81 Bumblebees

Apis mellifera: 4 Honeybees

Anthophorine bees: 1 Anthophora ssp.

Eucerine bees: 2 Long-horned bees Melissodes spp., Synhalonia ssp., Xenoglossa ssp.

Xylocopinae bees: 10 Carpenter bees

Bees of the West Eugene Wetlands Halictidae

Sweat bees: 165 Agapostemon spp. Halictus ssp. Lasioglossum ssp. Dialictus ssp.

Megachilidae Leaf cutter and mason bees: 20 Osmia ssp., Megachile ssp., Coelioxys ssp.

Bees of the West Eugene Wetlands Identification process

Steps for the future

Class: Insecta on the West Eugene Wetlands

Summary-to-Date

Data analysis pending positive identifications

Rare plant-pollinator relationships

Non-native invasives

Margins

Reference collection

Continuing Work

Ongoing collection to build bee fauna

Define rare plant-pollinator relationships

Monitor native bee populations

Acknowledgements

Dr. Sujaya Rao, OSU Dr. Bill Stephen, OSU Dr. Kevin Ahern, OSU Howard Hughes Medical Institute Sally Villegas, BLM The Nature Conservancy