Apid Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Flight Periods, Sex-Rations, Abundance, and Habitat Distribution in a Mid-Atlantic National Park

Kolleng, Michael; Barrows, Edward

Bee distribution and diversity at Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, GWMP. The world is currently experiencing global biodiversity and pollinator crises. Species are dying off at the highest rate since the end of the Cretaceous Period approximately 65 million years ago. Arthropod biodiversity compromises a large part of overall world biodiversity. As a result, arthropods, such as Hymenopterans (Ants, Bees, Sawflies, and Wasps) are critical organisms in maintaining ecological interactions and equilibria. Apidae, one of the nine bee families, includes many important pollinators such as the Western Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Bumble Bees (Bombus spp. ), and Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa spp. ). Due in particular to the global pollinator crisis, the importance of bee biodiversity has come to the attention of many researchers and conservationists. The Laboratory of Entomology and Biodiversity, at Georgetown University, collected arthropod specimens for 2 yr (1998 and 1999), using Malaise traps placed in three different habitats within Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve (DMWP) Virginia, part of a national park. The three habitats are the low forest, ibrest-marsh ecotone, and open marsh. Previous lab researchers removed apids from sample jars with specimens in ethanol. My study continues the apid project by identifying the species and tabulating them with regard to date and habitat. This study addresses the questions: (1) What apid species are present within DMWP? (2) In which habitats do the apids occur, and what are the species abundances in the three habitats? (3) What are the flight times of these bees? (4) How does the DMWP sample inform us about the global biodiversity and pollinator crises? (5) How can my findings help the National Park Service manage bee populations better? I found that there is a great diversity of apids within the DMWP. The bees were in all three habitats and flew from March through December.

Apid Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Flight Periods, Sex-Rations, Abundance, and Habitat Distribution in a Mid-Atlantic National Park

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