Biodiversity measures of a grassland plant-pollinator community are resilient to the introduction of honey bees (Apis mellifera).

ABSTRACT: The prairies of Canada support a diversity of insect pollinators that contribute pollination services to flowering crops and wild plants. Habitat loss and use of managed pollinators has increased conservation concerns for wild pollinators, as mounting evidence suggests that honey bees (Apis mellifera) may reduce their diversity and abundance. Plant-pollinator community analyses often omit non-bee pollinators, which can be valuable contributors to pollination services. Here, we experimentally introduced honey bees to examine how their abundance affects the species richness, diversity, abundance, species composition, interaction richness, and interaction diversity of all wild pollinators, and of four higher taxa separately. We identified all insect pollinators and analyzed how honey bee abun

SUBMITTER: Worthy SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11508496 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature