7/28/2019 Pinelands Native Bees Senior Project Poster

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Pinelands Native Bees

By: Dr. William Jamie Cromartie and April Hamblin

Even though concern is spreading about worldwide pollinator decline, much is s till unknown about

native bee populations and their density, abundance, and diversity. The New Jersey Pine Barrens area highly distinctive ecosystem whose native bees have not been thoroughly sampled. We fifteen

transects in New J ersey Pinelands monthly from May t o October, 2012. To conduct this survey,

thirty bee bowls were placed at each site for about a twenty-four hour period during each sampling.

Transects of ten blue, ten white, and ten yellow bee bowls were fil led with water and a few drops of

blue dawn dish detergent were placed outside for ten to twelve hours. Specimens were collected in

80% ethanol, then washed in water plus detergent, dried, and pinned.

The majority of diversity was found during June at the Richard Stockton College sit e. There were

57 species found at the current stage of research. Over half belong to t he family Halictidea. The

survey suggests that the Pinelands areas are best suited for the family Halictidae and that future

studies should be conducted with an earlier starting month and compared to these collected data.

Abstract

Study Sites

Methods

ResultsThe results show that the greatest bee diversity and richness occur

in June, at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, and within

the family Halictidae.

Figure 1

These data shows that June had the most diverse bee richness.

These data shows that Richard Stockton College of New

Jersey collected the most diverse bee richness.

Discussions and

ConclusionsThe null hypothesis was rejected. Diversity of bees is

directly related to season as well as location.

The majority of the bees were collected in June,

collected at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey,and within the family Halictidae.

Factors within the Pinelands that affect native bees:

- Bee abundance positively related to fire, yet

negatively related to canopy cover (Frohnapple, 2010)

- The infertile Pinelands soils (Robichaud, 1980)

increase areas for nesting (Frohnapple, 2010)

- Bees in forests like Pinelands benefit from some

habitat alteration, for 60% tree removal increased dead

wood for nesting and allowed more sunlight to reach

their soil nests (Ascher, 2007)

-agricultural fields, suburban developments, and urban

areas had greater species richness and diversity than

extensive forests, so some degree of alteration is

required to benefit bee populations (Griswold,

Kremen, & Winfree, 2007)

- Bee movement is based on foraging (Budny, 2005)

- Bee communities related to floral diversity, nectar

diversity, available nesting sites, geography, post-fire

age(Dafni et al, 2003)

- Pollinators are bio-indicators of an ecosystems

function and diversity (Abrol, 2012)

Figure 2

Conducted at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Instructor: Dr. W. J. Cromartie for Senior Project

Dr. John Ascher identified the bees to species after they were

sorted. A special thanks to all of his help, along with Dr.

Cromartie, who made Aprils senior project excellent research

experience.

Figure 3

These data shows that the most diverse bee richness was

found in the family Halictidae.

Light Path

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

-W of Observatoryscattered trees, thick grass

- Hospital Fieldscattered oaks, dry grass, lichens

- Baptisia Site Zinckgraf farmsparse pines, dry grass,

lichens

- Sand Road off Delaware Ave.pine oak woodland

- Parkway Ponds Borrow Pitshallow borrow pit, meadow

- Powerline R-O-Wmowed right of way

221 S. Vienna Ave.

-Orchardorchard and garden

- Back Fieldold field

Franklin Parker Preserve

~5 km S. Chatsworth Ten Trunks Oaksun-mowed dikes edge

of former cranberry bog

~5.5 km S. Chatsworth vic. Cedar Swamp Ten Trunkssand

path across restored cranberry bog

~4.25 km S. Chatsworth Ten Trunks Red Pitdry clearing

~4.25 km S. Chatsworth Ten Trunks Bee Yardwet clearing,

dry sand road in pine woodland

~3.2km SSW Chatsworth Middle Rd.wet clearing, dry sand

road in pine woodland

~1.5 km SSW Chatsworth Sand SE End Airstripdamp

clearing and dry sand pit

Ringler Ave. Chatsworthcripple wetland NW of road,

sphagnum

The Pinelands were chosen because they are a rare ecosystem.Relatively few surveys have been conducted within the

Pinelands involving bees, so this survey was conducted with

the thought that its results would be s hared. Only 2% of the

insects in the Pinelands are pollinators (McCormick, 1970), so

regardless of the decline, if they decline whatsoever, it could

cause drastic effects. This survey chose these areas with the

hopes that, one day, they will be surveyed and compared to

these data.

ReferencesAbrol, D. R. (2012).Pollination Biology: Biodiversity Conservation and Agricultural Production. Springer. London and NY. Pp 785.

Ascher, J. et al. (2007). Impacts of logging on midsummer diversity of native bees (Apoidea) in a northern hardwood forest.Journal of the Kansas

Entomological Society, 80(4), 327-338.Batra, S. (1992). Bees and pollination. Pp 15-17 in Adams, J., Arnett, R., and Thomas, M. , eds.Insect potppurri: adventures in entomology.The Sandhill Crane Press.

Gainseville. 15-17.

Budny, R. V. et al. (2005, March). Testing simple indices of habitat proximity.The American Naturalist, 165(6).

Dafni, A. et al. (2003, October). Linking bees and flowers: How do floral communities structure po llinator communities?Ecology, 84(10), 2628-2642.

Discover Life. (2012).Apoidea Bees; Apoid Wasps. Retrieved September 16th, 2012, from http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Apoidea#Identification.

Droege, S. 2012. Tips on how to Use Bee Bowls to Collect Bees. Received September 16, 2012, from

http://online.sfsu.edu/~beeplot/pdfs/bee%20bowl%20%20tip%20sheet1.pdf.

Droege, S. 2011. Presentations. Retrieved 13 May 2011 fro m http://www.slideshare.net/sdroege/presentations.

Frohnapple, K. et al. (2010, Sept.). Floral and nesting resources, habitat structure, and fir e influence bee distribution across an open-for est gradient.

Enological Applications, 20(6), Abstract.

Griswold, T., Kremen, C., & Winfree, R. (2007, February). Effect of human disturbance on bee communities in a forested ecosystem.Conservation

Biology, 21(1), 213-223.

McCormick, J. (1970, December). The Pine Barrens: A Preliminary Ecological Inventory. New Jersey State Museum. Trenton, NJ. Pp 85.

Robichaud, B. (1980, March). A conceptual framework for pinelands decision-making.New Jersey Pinelands Commissions, 79(9), 1-78.

Dr. W. J. Cromartie used Sam Droeges (2012) bee bowl

method, which consists of using 30 blue, white, and yellow

cups placed about 5 meters from one another in a line. These

bowls are filled with water and a drop of blue dawn dish

detergent. Bees are attracted to the color and then collected

within the water (Droege, 2012). Dr. Cromartie also sorted outthe bees from all of the collected specimens and printed labels

for the bee specimens.

April Hamblin used Sam Droeges (2011) methods for washing

and drying bees. She washed the bees in soapy water and 95%

ethanol, to then dry them with a blow-dryer (Droege, 2011).

After this, she pinned the specimens, most of which were glued

onto the pin. She labeled the specimens and sorted them

according family, or genus if possible, with the guide at

discoverlife.org (Discover Life, 2012).

Pollinators, mainly bees, provide food as security for

the human race as well as other animals and are

essential bio-indicators of an ecosystems functioning

and diversity (Abrol, 2012). Native bees are known to

pollinate native flora and many are specialists, which

means that they pollinate particular species of flowers

(Aigner, 2001). Native bees are currently declining,

yet there is not enough research conducted tounderstand exactly why or how to find a solution to

help stop this. Some reasons for the decline are

believed to be excessive use of pesticides, habitat

destruction due to certain types of land-use change

(Batra, 1992), and competition from invasive species

likeApis mellifera (Thomson, 2004). More research is

encouraged to find a gradient of change that bee

communities can handle. More research is needed to

help preserve ecosystems diversity and food by

conserving native bee populations.

The rate findings were:Augochlorella gratiosa

(Halictidae),Lasioglossum arantium (Halictidae),

Lasioglossum sopinci (Halictidae), and Osmia felti

(Megachilidae).

Species Collected

Andrenidae

Andrena (Melandrena) carlini (May)

A. (M.) vicina (May)

A. (Simandrena) nasonii (May)

A. (Trachandrena) rugosa(May)

Calliopsis andreniformis (June-August)Apidae

Apris mellifera (May-October)

Bombus (Cullumanobombus) griseocollis (June-August)

B. (Pyrobombus) bimaculatus(June)

B. (P.) impatiens(June-August)

B. (P.) perplexus(June)

Ceratina (Zadontomerus) calcarata (June; August; October)

C. (Z.) strenua (October)

Penoapis pruinosa (July)

Ptilothrix bombiformis(July-August)

Xylocopa (Xylocopoides) virginica(June-July)

Halictidae

Agapostemon splendens (May-July; Seotember-October)

A. texanus(May; July; September-October)

A. virescens (June-October)

Augochlora pura(July-August)

Augochlorella aurata (May-July; September)

A. gratiosa(May-July; September-October)

Augochloropsis (Paraugochloropsis) metallica (May-July)

Halictus ligatus or poeyi(May; July-October)

H. (Nealictus) parallelus (May)

H. (Nealictus) xarallelus (May)

H. (Pachyceble) confuses(May-July; September-

October)

H. (Protohalictus) rubicundus (June)H. (Seladonia) confuses (June-July)

Lasioglossum arantium ()

L. fuscipenne(June-July; October)

L. leucozonium(June-September)

L. tegulare (July)

L. vierecki (May-October)

L. (Dialictus) bruneri (June-August; October)

L. (D.) coeruleum (June)

L. (D.) cressonii (May; July-October)

L. (D.) illinoense (June)

L. (D.) imitatum (June)

L. (D.) leucocomum (October)

L. (D.) oblingum & subuiridatum & relatives (July-

August)

L. (D.) pectorale (May-July; September)

L. (Evylaeus) nelumbonis(June-October)

L. (E.) sopinci (May-June)

Sphecodes brachycephalus (May)

S. coronus (May)

S. fattigi (October)

S. pimpinellae (August)

MegachilidaeHeriades (Neotypetes) carinata (May)

Hoplitis producta (May)

Megachile b. brevis(July; September-October)

M. (Litmegachile) texana (July-August)

M. (Xanthosarus) addenda (May-June)

Osmia virga (June)

O. (Melanosmia) felti (June)

O. (M.) pumila (May-June)

O. (Osmia) taurus (May)

Stelis (Stelis) laterallis (May)

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