Abstract
Fragmentation and loss of natural habitats are major threats to many bee species. Large, long-distance flying bees are predicted to be more efficient in utilizing resources and at the same time may function as important pollinators in a fragmented landscape. Using mark-recapture experiments, this study evaluates the movement of bees belonging to the "large, long-tongue" guild in a threatened, fragmented habitat. Bee movement between the sampling plots was limited, despite high recapture proportions within the plots. A maximum likelihood model has estimated a high degree (60 % of all marked bees) of site fidelity to the source plots and a mean traveling distance of 357 m for the bees that left the plots. Additional observations on the bees' foraging behavior suggest that some anthophorine bee species can be important pollinators in the studied habitat. We suggest that the bees' site fidelity and flower constancy are the main causes for their observed conservative movement pattern.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 90-99 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Apidologie |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2013 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Stephan Rich and Christopher O’Toole for their help with the identification of bee species. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the improvement of this article. This study was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (grant number 768/08, given to A. Dafni) and by The Dorothy and Henk Schussheim’s Fund for Ecological Research in Mt. Carmel.
Keywords
- foraging behavior
- habitat fragmentation
- movement patterns
- site fidelity
- solitary bees
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Insect Science