Honey bee hives decrease wild bee abundance, species richness, and fruit count on farms regardless of wildflower strips.

ABSTRACT: Pollinator refuges such as wildflower strips are planted on farms with the goals of mitigating wild pollinator declines and promoting crop pollination services. It is unclear, however, whether or how these goals are impacted by managed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) hives on farms. We examined how wildflower strips and honey bee hives and/or their interaction influence wild bee communities and the fruit count of two pollinator-dependent crops across 21 farms in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. Although wild bee species richness increased with bloom density within wildflower strips, populations did not differ significantly between farms with and without them whereas fruit counts in both crops increased on farms with wildflower strips during one of 2 years. By contrast, wild bee abundance decreased by 4

SUBMITTER: Angelella GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7865060 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature