native pinelands bees senior project
TRANSCRIPT
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Native Pinelands Bees
Native Pinelands Bees
April Hamblin
Senior Project
Professor W. J. Cromartie
December 3rd
, 2012
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Native Pinelands Bees 1
Table of Content
Abstract...page 2
Introductionpages 2
Study Sitespage 3-6
Methods and Materials ...pages 6-9
Resultspages 9-12
Figurespages 12-15
Analysis and Discussion.pages 15-21
Further Research and Implications.pages 21-23
Conclusion.....page 23-24
Acknowledgements...page 24
References..pages 25-29
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Native Pinelands Bees 2
ABSTRACT: Even though concern is spreading about worldwide pollinator decline, much is stillunknown about native bee populations and their density, abundance, and diversity. The New JerseyPine Barrens are a highly distinctive ecosystem whose native bees have not been thoroughly
sampled. We fifteen transects in New Jersey Pinelands monthly from May to October, 2012. To
conduct this survey, thirty bee bowls were placed at each site for about a twenty-four hour periodduring each sampling. Transects of ten blue, ten white, and ten yellow bee bowls were filled withwater 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 site. There were 57species found at the current stage of research. Over half belong to the family Halictidea. The surveysuggests 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.
Introduction
The majority of plants80% of angiosperms, which are the largest and most diverse
phyla (Bidlack & Jansky, 2011)require insect pollinators for fertilization, which means that
without them, this process will not occur naturally. Apoidea, or bees, are the main group of
insects that pollinate angiosperms (Brady, 2006). Although there is not research on which group
of pollinators is the most vital, most entomologists will agree that bees are the most dominant
pollinators in the majority of ecosystems, for they visit flower more often than other insects and
both their larval and adult stages feel on floral products (Bartomeus, Cariveau, & Winfree,
2011). Not only are most angiosperms pollinated by bees, but bees pollinate 1/3 of the entire
worlds food crops. Since the 1900s bees have been recorded declining (Stevens, 2011), but the
past few decades have had the largest declines recorded, one example the genusBombus is four
species have declined as much as 96% (Donavan, 2011). This is urgent because many creatures,
including humans, rely on bees to pollinate their food.
Most national and regional surveys are still at their initial stages. It is generally
hypothesized that many factors such as pesticides and land-use change affect bees negatively, but
surveys are only the first step toward definitive solutions declining bee populations (Kearns,
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Native Pinelands Bees 3
Inouve, & Waser, 1998). To help provide information to the entomologists involved in this
research, we began a survey was conducted to determine which native bees live in the Pine
Barrens, their seasonal occurrence, and there specific habitats.
Study Sites
The Pinelands in New Jersey are about 2,000 to 2,250 square miles and most are forested
(Boyd, 1991), yet the study sites chosen were generally in n opened area. The Pinelands were
chosen because they are a protected, rare ecosystem, adapted to fire, with many species of insects
which are much less common in adjacent forest types. According to McCormick (1970) only 2%
of these insects are pollinators. This small percentage is vital for the ecosystem, for many
herbaceous plants and shrubs require them for fertilization. The Pinelands generally divides into
lowlands and uplands (McCormick, 1970). There are also dwarf forests and cedar swamps
(Boyd, 1991).
The lowlands are generally categorized into three different habitats: pitch pine lowlands,
cedar swamps, and hardwood swamps (Boyd, 1991). Lowlands main species arePinus rigida
(pitch pine), Thuja occidentalis (white cedar),Nyssa sylvatica (black gum),Acer rubrum (red
maple), andMagnolia virginiana (sweet bay magnolia). One may also findLiquidambar
straciflua (sweet gum),Betula populifolia (gray birch), Quercus palustris (pin oak), Quercus
phellos (willow oak), and other species. There are also southern white cedar swamps that have
many Thuja occidentalis,Pinus rigida,Liquidambar straciflua, andBetula populifolia.
Understory of these lowlands include: Gaylussacia frondosa (dangleberry),Rhododendron
viscosum (swamp azalea), Vaccinium corymbosum (high-bush blueberry),Myrica pensylvanica
(bayberry), and other shrubs. Utricularia purpurea (bladderwarts), Woodwardia virginica (chain
fern), Sarracenia purpurea (pitcher plants),Mitchella repens (partridgeberry), and others also
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Native Pinelands Bees 4
occur here. Lowland pitch pine forests also occur with vegetation such as Gaylussacia frondosa,
Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry),Kalmia angustifolia (sheep laurel), and other shrubs
(McCormick, 1970). The lowlands also have water tables close to the surface, usually less than
two feet. The cedar swamps mentioned earlier are scattered throughout the lowlands. Their most
dominant tree is Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic white cedar). The species that occur here are
some listed in the lowlands areas but also include a number of species of mosses and lichens due
to the moisture and water over the soil (Boyd, 1991).
Uplands have many species, but the most dominant arePinus rigida (pitch p)ines,Pinus
echinata (short-leaf pines), and various species ofQuercus (oaks) (Boyd, 1991). Other species
that occur include: Vaccinium angustifolium (low-bush blueberry),Rubus fruticosus
(blackberries), and many other species already mentioned but with a more complex composition.
Some specific forests in the uplands include pine-blackjack oak forests, oak-pine forests, and
pine-oak forests. Pine-blackjack oak forests have many species but are special because of their
Quercus marilandica (blackjack oak), and various other members of the Quercus genus along
with somePinus. Oak-pine forests have Quercus velutina (black oak), Quercus alba (white oak),
and Quercus prinus (chestnut oak). Pine-oak forests have the same Quercus along with Quercus
marilandica,Pinus rigida, and other species. Pinelands have more swamps and forests than
actual grass, but some grasses can be around (McCormick, 1970). The uplands water table is
generally two or more feet below the ground level as well.
The dwarf forests generally support the growth of an unusually short forest of mature
trees. Generally the dominant trees arePinus rigida (pitch pines) as well as other species of oaks.
The stunted growth may be due to the fact that reproduction is mainly vegetative than seed
dispersal (Boyd, 1991).
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Native Pinelands Bees 5
There were a total of fifteen study sites chosen for this project within the Pinelands areas.
Within the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey site (where the rarest species were found
that will be mentioned later on) there were the following siteswith the following habitat:
W of Observatory (39.4850 N 74.5565 W)scattered trees, thick grass Hospital Field (39.4780 N 74.5440 W)scattered oaks, dry grass, lichens Baptisia Site Zinckgraf farm (39.4850 N 74.5435 W)sparse pines, dry grass, lichens Sand Road off Delaware Ave. (39.4890 N 74.5410 W)pine oak woodland Parkway Ponds Borrow Pit (39.4820 N 74.5260 W)shallow borrow pit, meadow Powerline R-O-W (39.4930 N 74.5190 W)mowed right of way
Within the S. Vienna Ave site there were the following sites:
Orchard (39.5235 N 74.5990 W)orchard and garden Back Field (39.5247 N 74.6000 W)old field
Within the Franklin Parker Preserve site there were the following sites:
~5 km S. Chatsworth Ten Trunks Oaks (39.7736 N 74.5344 W)un-mowed dikes edgeof former cranberry bog
~5.5 km S. Chatsworth vic. Cedar Swamp Ten Trunks (39.7776 N 74.5321 W)sandpath across restored cranberry bog
~4.25 km S. Chatsworth Ten Trunks Red Pit (39.7818 N 74.5342 W)dry clearing ~4.25 km S. Chatsworth Ten Trunks Bee Yard (39.7807 N 74.5338 W)wet clearing,
dry sand road in pine woodland
~3.2km SSW Chatsworth Middle Rd. (39.7869 N 74.5532 W)wet clearing, dry sandroad in pine woodland
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~1.5 km SSW Chatsworth Sand SE End Airstrip (39.8060 N 74.5443 W)damp clearingand dry sand pit
Ringler Ave. Chatsworth (39.8141 N 74.5699 W)cripple wetland NW of road,sphagnum
The Pinelands are known to be mosaics of the above habitats, generally in relatively
small areas (Robichaud, 1980). Since the Pine Barrens were chosen, the study hopes to reveal
some sort of data that gives a basis of what species occur in the Pinelands and how these species
relate to season. This data is being collected in hopes that another student in the future hopes to
study bees in the Pinelands and compare them to what was found throughout this research.
Methods and Materials
This survey used Sam Droeges method of sampling with bee bowls to collect the
specimens. Bee bowls are small (generally 2-4 oz) plastic cups brightly colored blue, white, and
yellow with inflorescence to attract bees. Each site has thirty cups (ten of each color) placed in a
transect about five meters apart from one another. These bowls are filled water and blue dawn
dish detergent (not citrus or the bees will be repelled) so that the bees cannot break the surface of
the water and are collected by the cups. It has been noted that the bees stop moving, apparently
dead, within sixty seconds so that they do not suffer. These cups are left out for periods of
twenty-four hours, but should not be left our longer for their bodies may start to decompose. For
this survey, we placed the bowls out for about ten to twelve hours due to time limitations. To
collect the bees, some sort of net such as a brine shrimp net may be used so that the bowls may
easily be collected by pour its contents into the net while walking the transect. Once the
specimens are brought back to the lab and the bees are sorted out from the collection, they are
stored in at least 70% ethanol until they are ready to be washed (Droege, 2012).
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Native Pinelands Bees 7
Before identifying bees, since they are generally covered in pollen and matted from
floating in the bee bowls for hours, they are generally washed. To do this, one needs two glass
jars any size (usually salsa or jam jars are fine for this), an empty jar, one jar of 95% ethanol, one
empty jar labeled 95% ethanol, a paper towel, a bee dryer which is a glass jar with some sort of
mesh on the top to prevent them from falling (generally the mesh is metal because of the hot
temperatures from the blow dryer), a blow dryer, a funnel, mesh for the funnel, and forceps.
First, the bees must be dumped from their containers through the funnel and into the empty jar
that is not going to be used for anything else. This will take the bees out of the ethanol. One of
the glass jars should be half to two thirds filled with warm water and a couple drops of soap, just
enough so that there are not many suds. Using the forceps, one should pick the bees out from the
funnel and drop them in the warm water. The lid should then be put on the jar and the jar should
be swirled around in a circular pattern where the water almost looks like a tornado. After
swirling for about thirty seconds to two minutes, depending on the number and size of the
sample of bees, the bees should then be poured through the funnel and into the other empty glass
jar. Generally for larger bees and more bees they have to be swirled for longer periods of time.
Beesbodies are robust, so it is a good idea to swirl harder than softer.
After this, the same process happens but in the 95% ethanol. Once the bees are done in
the ethanol, they should be picked out with the forceps and put onto the middle of the paper
towel. Using ones hands, pick up the paper towel by two of the opposite corners. Then, take the
other two corners in the same hand, making sure there are no openings that the bees could fall
through. Basically one hand should be in a fist with the corners of the paper towel and the other
should be blocking any tine openings that may persist. Shake the bees up and down for about a
minute in this position, watching to see if any fall out and need to be rewashed. Once this is
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Native Pinelands Bees 8
completed, put the paper towel back onto the table and put the bees into the glass jar that has a
mesh lid with the forceps. After putting the mesh lid on, make sure that none of the bees stick to
the sides of the glass jar. Using the blow dryer, blow the bees for a minute to two minutes
depending on the number and size of the bees. Generally larger bees or more bees require longer
periods of blow drying (Droege, 2011). One must remember, after every step, to check that none
of the bees are left behind in their previous containers so that the results of the experiment are
valid.
After washing and drying the bees, they are then ready to be pinned, labeled, and
eventually identified. Any members ofBombus,Apis mellifera, or bees of similar sizes were
pinned through the thorax with size three or four pins. Smaller bees were glued to the pins on
their left side in the area between their middle and last legs on the thorax. Pin sizes varied, but
generally any size under one was avoided because of their lack of sturdiness. Once pinned and
counted, labels were made, printed, cut, and placed on the specimens. Specimens without labels
are considered useless because they contain no geographical information, therefore their site
locations and dates are unknown. Because of this, specimens were handled with great care and
concern.
After labeling the bees, they were then sorted in groups, first by family, and then by
genus. Main websites used for this was Discover Life (2012) at
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Apoidea#Identification and Bug Guide (2012) at
http://bugguide.net/node/view/8267. Along with these websites,Bees of the Eastern United
States by Mitchel (1960) was read to give an overview of the differences of the specific families
of bees as well as BugGuide.net (2012) and other resources suchBorror and Delongs Intro to
the Study of Insects (Triplehorn & Johnson, 2005). After the bees were sorted to genus, they
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Native Pinelands Bees 9
were then taken to The American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York for Dr.
John S. Ascher to identify to species. These specimens were taken November 16th
, 2012 to be
identified. Over half of the collection was identified that day, yet the other specimens had to stay
at the museum for further identification. Because of this, this report only includes the readily
identified specimens. While the other specimens will be taken into consideration later, this report
does not talk about them. Not only were many species identified, but this visit also allowed the
project to consider being recorded within the museums database so that the information may be
updated when materials such as species names change. Although it is unsure what method of
databasing will be used eventually, this is something taken into consideration because it would
be highly beneficial for the study as well as the museum.
Results
Of the specimens that were identified, there was a total of 57 different species, which are
in table 1. This raw data shows that the majority of the bees were Halictidae, while the majority
of the Halictidae wereLasioglossum.Of the species identified so far, the rarest were
Augochlorella gratiosa,Lasioglossum arantium, andLasioglossum sopinci of Halictidae and
Osmia felti of Megachilidae. These species did not have many accessible works and seem
understudied, but there were a few mentions of them within scholarly journals.
Augochlorella gratiosa are known to live in ranges from Michigan to Nova Scotia, south
to Texas (Discover Life, 2012), and across to Mississippi on plants such as Chrysopsis
microcephala (narrowleaf silkgrass) (Michener, 1947), within Pennsylvania (Donovall &
vanEngelsdorp, 2010), and Florida in areas such as Evergreens National Park (Ascher & Hall;
Neal, Pascarella, & Waddington, 1999). They are believed to be around from March to
September, but year round in Florida. They have floral records of interacting withBerteroa,
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Bidens, Cirsium, Citrus, Clethra, Erigeron, Eryngium, Hypericum, Ilex, Lepidium,
Melilotus,Oenothera, Polygala, Polygonum, Rhus, Rubus, and Taraxacum (Discover Life, 2012).
A. gratiosa are also known to pollinate plants such as watermelon (Goff, 1937) and Lysimachia
(Brownie) fairly well, but are vaguely described and can be one of the harder bees to identify
(Coelho, 2004).
Within the site at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, there are known to beBidens
arisfosa (tickseed-sunflower) and other species ofBidens as well as Cirsium arvense (Canada
thistle), Cirsium discolor(field thistle), Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush), Erigeron
canadensis (horseweed), Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane), Hypericum boreale (St. Johnswort),
Hypericum canadense (lesser Canadian St. Johnswort), Hypericum gentianoides (orange grass),
Hypericum perforatum (common St. Johnswort), Ilex galbra (inkberry), Ilex opaca (American
holly), other species ofIlex, Melilotus alba (white sweet clover), Melilotus officinalis (sweet
clover), Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose), Oenothera laciniata (sinuate-leaved
evening primrose), other species ofOenothera, Polygala brevifolia (short-leaved milkweed),
Polygala lutea (yellow milkwort), Polygonum aviculare (knotweed), Polygonum caespitosum
(oriental ladys thumb), Polygonum lapathifolium (smartweed), Polygonum pensylvanicum
(Pennsylvania smartweed), Rhus copallinum (winged sumac), Rhus copallina (dwarf sumac),
Rhus glabra (smooth sumac), Rubus hispidus (bristly dewberry), Rubus occidentalis (black
raspberry), other species ofRubus, Taraxacum laevigatum (red-seeded dandelion), and
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) (Cromartie, 2012). Since these genuses were listed as
hosts forAugochlorella gratiosa, so it appears as though many of them could be where the
species forages at Richard Stockton College. This may be whyAugochlorella gratiosa was found
at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and it was also found at S. Vienna Ave.
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Unfortunately,Lasioglossum arantium did not have as many articles covering the
species asA. gratiosa, yet the articles were more based on scientific research. Gibbs (2011)
explains thatL. arantium is a social parasite. These social parasites are believed to have dual
lineages, originating from their combined DNA barcode and specific traits of their morphology
(Albert, Gibbs, & Packer, 2011). There are not any listed host plants of this species or much
information about it, so it would be interesting to think about why it was found in the Pinelands.
Perhaps its hosts were, since it is considered a parasite.
The otherLasioglossum, L. sopinci is a large species known to occur from March to July
in New Jersey, North Carolina (Discover Life, 2012), and Georgia in areas such as Piedmount
(Hanula & Horn, 2011). Davis et al (2009) speaks about micro-deserts and states thatL. sopinci
relies heavily on the soil structures.L. sopinci tends to be in areas along withL. viercki because
this species also relies on sandy soils. This species also has no list of plant host species know yet,
but perhaps the species relies more on nesting areas available due to the sandy soil than the
specific available flowers. This species was found in all three of the locations for sites, so this
common soil could be the limiting factor. Specifically, this species was found at the following
sites: Richard Stockton College (W of Obervatory, Hospital field, Baptisia site Zinckgraf farm,
Sand Road off Delaware Ave), S. Vienna Ave (Orchard), and Franklin Parker Preserve (Ten
Trunks Bee Yard and Middle Road). Only the Stockton site had multiple day collections of this
specimen. Out of a total of thirteen specimens, ten were collected from the Richard Stockton
College of New Jersey, one was from S. Vienna Ave, and two were from the Franklin Parker
Preserve. So far, the rarest species seem most common at the Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey sites.
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The final rare species that will be discussed is Osmia felti, which is distributed from
Minnesota to New England states such as Pennsylvania (Donovall & vanEngelsdorp, 2010) and
most south to West Virginia from June to August (Discover Life, 2012). O. feltis known to
heavily pollinate blueberries as well (Cane et al, 1985). Even though other sources do not have a
plant host species list, Cane reveals that Osmia felti is known to pollinate Vaccinium
(blueberries), which are very common at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, where the
only specimen was found (at the specific site called Baptisia site Zinckgraf farm, which appears
to be the most diverse out of all the Stockton College sites). It is highly likely that this species is
in the Pinelands because of the blueberries, yet there may be other undiscovered factors that
influence Osmia feltis presence at Stockton College.
Table 1
Family Genus Species Total Sites May June July Aug. Sep. Oct.
Andrenidae Andrena (Melandrena) carlini 1 SV X
Andrenidae Andrena (Melandrena) vicina 1 SV X
Andrenidae Andrena (Simandrena) nasonii 4 RSC&SV X
Andrenidae Andrena (Trachandrena) rugosa 1 RSC X
Andrenidae Calliopsis andreniformis 11 RSC&SV&PP X X X
Apidae Apis mellifera 42
RSC&SV
&PP X X X X X X
Apidae
Bombus (Cullumanobombus)
griseocollis 14 RSC&SV&PP X X X
Apidae Bombus (Pyrobombus) bimaculatus 5 RSC&SV&PP X
Apidae Bombus (Pyrobombus) impatiens 6 RSC&SV&PP X X X
Apidae Bombus (Pyrobombus) perplexus 10 RSC&SV X
Apidae Ceratina (Zadontomerus) calcarata 4 RSC&SV X X X
Apidae Ceratina (Zadontomerus) strenua 2 RSC X
Apidae Peponapis pruinosa 1 SV XApidae Ptilothrix bombiformis 3 RSC&SV X X
Apidae Xylocopa (Xylocopoides) virginica 2 RSC&SV X X
Halictidae Agapostemon splendens 22 SV&PP X X X X X
Halictidae Agapostemon texanus 22 RSC&SV X X X X
Halictidae Agapostemon virescens 11 RSC&SV X X X X X
Halictidae Augochlora pura 4 RSC&PP X X
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Halictidae Augochlorella aurata 23
RSC&SV
&PP X X X X
Halictidae Augochlorella gratiosa 8 SV&PP X X X X X
Halictidae
Augochloropsis (Paraugochloropsis)
metallica 3 RSC X X X
Halictidae Halictus (Nealictus) parallelus 1 SV XHalictidae Halictus (Nealictus) xarallelus 1 SV X
Halictidae Halictus (Pachyceble) confusus 32 RSC&SV X X X X X
Halictidae Halictus (Protohalictus) rubicundus 1 RSC X
Halictidae Halictus (Seladonia) confusus 4 RSC&SV X X
Halictidae Halictus ligatus or poeyi 39 RSC&SV X X X X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum (Dialictus) bruneri 6 RSC&SV X X X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum (Dialictus) cressonii 5 RSC&SV&PP X X X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum (Dialictus) illinoense 10 RSC X
Halictidae Lasioglossum (Dialictus) imitatum 1 RSC X
HalictidaeLasioglossum (Dialictus)leucocomum 1 RSC X
Halictidae
Lasioglossum (Dialictus) oblingum
& subuiridatum & relatives 21 RSC&PP X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum (Dialictus) pectorale 5 RSC&SV X X X X
Halictidae
Lasioglossum (Evylaeus)
nelumbonis 29 PP X X X X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) sopinci 13
RSC&SV
&PP X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum (L.) leucozonium 10 RSC&SV X X X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum arantium 1
Halictidae Lasioglossum fuscipenne 10 RSC&PP X X X
Halictidae Lasioglossum tegulare 1 PP X
Halictidae Lasioglossum vierecki 165
RSC&SV
&PP X X X X X X
Halictidae Lassioglossm (Dialictus) coeruleum 2 RSC X
Halictidae Sphecodes brachycephalus 3 RSC&SV X
Halictidae Sphecodes coronus 2 RSC&SV X
Halictidae Sphecodes fattigi 1 PP X
Halictidae Sphecodes pimpinellae 1 SV X
Megachilidae Heriades (Neotypetes) carinata 1 RSC X
Megachilidae Hoplitis producta 1 SV XMegachilidae Megachile (Litomegachile) b. brevis 3 RSC&SV X X X
Megachilidae Megachile (Litomegachile) texana 7 RSC&SV&PP X X
Megachilidae Megachile (Xanthosarus) addenda 6
RSC&SV
&PP X X
Megachilidae Osmia (Melanosmia) felti 1 RSC X
Megachilidae Osmia (Melanosmia) pumila 13 SV X X
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Megachilidae Osmia (Osmia) taurus 1 RSC X
Megachilidae Osmia virga 2 RSC&SV X
Megachilidae Stelis (Stelis) laterallis 1 SV X
Graph 1
010203040
NumberofSpecies
Month
Bee Species Richness Compared to
Month
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Native Pinelands Bees 15
Graph 2
0
10
20
30
4050
S. Vienna Ave Richard Stockton
College of New
Jersey
Franklin Parker
Preserve
NumberofSpecies
Site
Species Richness Compared to Sites
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Native Pinelands Bees 16
Graph 3
For more details about these figures refer to the database.
Analysis and Discussion
Patterns arise from analyzing figure one as well as the database. It is interesting to look at
the patters of bee families related to the different months that were sampled. Andrenidae, the
largest family of bees in North America, consists of mainly many mining bees and are most
common in spring. One common genus,Andrena, is known to have banded abdomens similar to
those of sweat bees inHalictus (Nature Search, 2008). This family is also known to nest in the
ground, sometimes relatively close to one another, in similar borrows to that of halictids
(Triplehorn & Johnson, 2005). In Andrenidae, allAndrena were collected in May, two species in
Vienna Ave, one species at Stockton, and one species at Vienna Ave and Stockton.Andrena are
known to mainly be in the northern hemisphere and most occur in the spring but some are also
0
10
20
30
40
Numbero
fSpeciesFound
Family
Bee Species Richness Compared to
Family
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Native Pinelands Bees 17
know to occur in the summer, autumn, and even in the winter (Bug Guide, 2012). Calliopsis was
collected June through July at Vienna Ave, Stockton, and Parker Preserve. For Andrenidae, May
had the most species richness and diversity, while the majority of the species were found at
Vienna Ave. Calliopsis are known to occur from Canada to Chile and Aregentina and tend to be
specialists where they collect pollen from one or few species generally from one of the following
families of plants:Leguminosae, Euphorbiaceae, Compositae, and Verbenaceae (Bug Guide,
2012).
Apidae, or long-tongued bees (along with Megachilidae), have some species with
particular behaviors such as males sleeping in aggregations on vegetation or gathering flower
oils instead of the pollen. This family includes digger bees that nest in the ground, bumble bees
that are the only native social bee to North America, carpenter bees where some have
overlapping nests in dead wood so they are considered semisocial, cuckoo bees which act as
cleptoparasites on other bees, and the invasive honey bee (Nature Search, 2008). Digger bees
generally nest in borrows in the ground and may act solitary or nest colonially with a thin wax-
like substance lining their cells (Triplehorn & Johnson, 2005).
In Apidae, the invasive, social honey beeApis mellifera was collected throughout the
entire sampling time from May to October as well as all three sites. This shows that invasive
species tend to spread rapidly from lack their native predators and outcompeting the native
pollinators (Thomson, 2004).Bombus was not collected as often, yet seemed to be most
significant in June. A couple ofBombus were also collected in July and August. Three of the
species ofBombus were found at all three sites, while one species ofBombus was only found at
Vienna Ave and Stockton.Bombus are found around the world but lacking in Africa and
Australia and are mimicked by a few fly species (Bug Guide, 2012). Ceratina were collected in
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Native Pinelands Bees 18
June, August, and October, but had more species richness in October. Both species ofCeratina
were found at Stockton and one was also found at Vienna Ave. Ceratine, or small carpenter bees,
occur worldwide and nest in the wood (Bug Guide, 2012).Peponapis was collected in July along
withPtilothrix, which was also collected in August. These were both found at Vienna Ave, while
Ptilothrix was also found Stockton.Peponapis are found throughout the US and Canada, south to
Argentina and associated with the plant family Cucurbitaceae which generally occur in dry,
sandy, deserts.Ptilothrix occur from the US to Argentina. (Bug Guide, 2012).Xylocopa was
collected in June and July as well and at Vienna Ave and Stockton.Xylocopa, or carpenter bees,
look similar to bumble bees but have naked abdomens and occur worldwide, generally on
flowers or nesting sites near woody plants (Bug Guide, 2012). These nesting sites may be in
wood or the stems of other plants and maybe even excavate galleries in solid wood (Triplehorn
& Johnson, 2005). Throughout Apidae, June appeared to have the most species richness and
diversity, followed closely by July. Vienna Ave also had the most species richness, followed
close by Stockton.
Halictidae, or sweat bees, generally are the most colorful bees from black to blue to green
with behaviors that range from solitary to semisocial and consist of over 500 species in North
America (Nature Search, 2008). In Halictidae, there is more of a wide range of bees collected in
the Pinelands.Agapostemon has species current throughout the entire season from May to
October, with all species present in July, September, and October. These species were found at
two Vienna Ave and Stockton or Vienna Ave and Parker Preserve.Agapostemon occur from
Canada to Argentina, whereA. splendens and a. texanus are mentioned to only occur in Florida
(Bug Guide, 2012), yet they were collected within this Pinelands survey.Halictus is similar, for
this group has species in every month sampled so far, yet the most species were collected in
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Native Pinelands Bees 19
May. These species were only found at Vienna Ave, Stockton, or a combination of both.
Halictus occur in many areas yet are more numerous in sandy areas and are believed to occur
from early spring to late fall, but year-round in Florida and Texas (Bug Guide, 2012).
Augochlora has one species from July to August found at Stockton and Parker Preserve which
occur worldwide,Augochlorella has two species from May to July and September where one
continues onto October found at all three sites or Vienna Ave and Parker Preserve which occur
from Canada to Argentina in May to October, andAugochloropsis has one species present from
May to July found at Stockton which occur from Canada to Argentina (Bug Guide, 2012).
Lasioglossum has fifteen different species that occur variously through May to October, yet the
highest species richness and diversity was in June. L. Dialictus were all found at Stockton or
Stockton and a combination of the other two sites.L (Evylarus) were found at Parker Preserve or
all three sites. OtherLasioglossum were found at combinations of all three sites. The lowest
species diversity occurred in May. This shows that, although others were most common in May,
Lasioglossum is not in this class and may need the warmer temperatures to hatch, later to be able
to stay longer with the cold weather in October.Lasioglossum are generalists that occur
worldwide, yet some are cleptoparasites, some are nocturnal, and some are oligolectic with
behaviors from solitary to semisocial to eusocial (Bug Guide, 2012). Two Sphecodes species
were collected in May and found at Vienna Ave and Stockton, another in August found at
Vienna Ave, and another in October found at Parker Preserve. This could be because these bees
have very similar niches, so they occupy different sites in the Pinelands at different times as that
correspond to their hosts, for they are cleptoparasites, usually of other Halictinae, and occur
worldwide (Bug Guide, 2012).
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Native Pinelands Bees 20
Megachilidae consist of leaf-cutter, which cut circles from leaves to construct their nests,
and mason bees, which nest in preexisting tunnels in wood, and others such as Coelioxys, which
are cleptoparasites ofMegachile. Females collect pollen with a brush on the underside of their
abdomens and are considered long-tongued with over 600 species on North America (Nature
Search, 2008). In Megachilidae, there are ten species that were found within the Pinelands. One
species ofHeriades found at Stockton and one species ofHoplitis found at Vienna Ave were
only found in May.Heriades occur worldwide except for South America and Australia while
Hoplitis is noted to occur in South Africa in Holarctic and Ethiopia, yet it was also found in the
New Jersey Pinelands (Bug Guide, 2012). The two species ofMegachile (L.) were very similar
and both collected in July found at Vienna Ave and Stockton or all three sites, yet one continued
and the other was not collected in August but in September and October. When occurrences like
this happen, it leads to think that these bees fill multiple niches of the same sort, especially to
similar plants within the same genera of bee. Another Megachile (X.) was only found in May and
June but was collected at all three sites. This reassures the idea of fulfilling similar niches,
therefore causing competition, which would result in patchiness of similar bees, where one
species is around during a period of time and the other is around during another period of time.
Megachile is known to occur in many areas such as the US in May through October but may start
flying in earlier times in warmer areas and feed on a variety of pollen (Bug Guide, 2012). One
species ofOsmia was only collected in May at Stockton, two species were only collected in June
at Vienna Ave and Stockton or just Stockton, and another species was collected in May and June
at Vienna Ave. When species are only found in May and/or June, it leads researchers to think
that this species either flourished for a longer period of time before the study site was sampled,
or to think that the species has a very short life span. Osmia are known to occur from early to late
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Native Pinelands Bees 21
spring with few around in the summer and to visit species in Vaccinium such as blueberries with
a variety of nesting areas such as in the soil or hollowed stems (Bug Guide, 2012). Stelis was
only found in May as well at Stockton, which may be because of one of the above reasons. Stelis
occurs throughout most of the world except Australasia and equatorial Africa and are known to
be cleptoparasites of other leaf cutter bees, mainlyMegachile (Bug Guide, 2012). For
Megachilidae, Stockton and Vienna Ave also were the most productive sites.
About 23.66% of the bees different species were collected in June, followed closes by
July with 20.61% of the species. May collected 19.1% of the bee species. September collected
the least amount of species richness, the least amount of different species, with a significantly
lower 10.69%. Right before and after September, both August and October, caught the same at
12.98% bee species richness. Figures 2 and 3 show this quite well in graphs.
Along with these findings, 39% of the species were found at Vienna Ave, 42% of the
species were found at Stockton College, and 19% of species were found at Parker Preserve. One
would think that Parker Preserve would have the most species richness because of the general
lack of people, but as of the research so far, Stockton College has the highest species richness.
Vienna Ave is following Stockton close behind, so it will be interesting to see how this changes
once all of the bees collected are put into the overall data. For the different families of bees
found there were the following statistics: Andrenidae were 8.77% of the species, Apidae were
17.54% of the species, Halictidae were 56.14% of the species and Megachilidae were 17.54% of
the species. These results suggest that most bees were found at Stockton in June in which most of
them were in the family Halictidae.
This being said, the data collected does have some error within it. First, all of the
specimens were not identified yet, so the species spoken about in this essay are about only half of
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Native Pinelands Bees 22
the total species, maybe a bit more than half. Because of this, although the data is showing that
the greatest species richness is found in the month of June as well as at Stockton College, this
may change once the other specimens are collected, databased, and analyzed. While all of these
sites were within the Pinelands, it would be useful to take a closer look into these areas and
distinguish their differences because many studies cause some error due to ignoring with-in site
variability (Barker, 1994). There must also be some error calculated into the results due to things
such as small sample size, weather on collection day, amount of time the bee bowls were left out
during collection, how well the bee bowls were visible at each site to the bees, possible
calculation errors, possible misspelling errors, and other possible human errors. This study will
be more valid when it is more complete once all of the specimens are identified, databased, and
studied.
Further Research and Implications
This research was designed with the idea that another Stockton professor and student
would work together to research these study sites again. This data was surveyed for baseline data
so that future studies may compare their results to this as well as a survey of basic comparison of
months to species richness. In very general terms, species diversity was found to be greatest at
Stockton, in July, and within the family Halictidae. This information will be shared and
hopefully used in the future as baseline data for comparison.
Since these data were recorded in the Pinelands, it is important to look at factors there
that may be influencing the bee community. Frohnapple (2010) conducted research involving
open-forest areas and how much habitat alteration bees could survive within this setting. The
results showed that bees abundance was positively related to fire and negatively related to
canopy cover. Since all of the study sites within the Pinelands research were in proximity to the
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Native Pinelands Bees 23
forest, this shows that areas with less trees benefited bees over areas with more trees. Bees forage
and travel in different radius of habitat due to their species and size, so it is safe to say most
probably did not forage within the relatively close forest, but found other sources of food,
nesting areas, etc. The infertility of the Pinelands soil (Robichaud, 1980) appeared to also benefit
the bees by increasing nesting availability (Frohnapple, 2010). Another study, conducted by
Ascher et al (2007), suggests that bees in the Pinelands and other forests benefit from some
habitat change; the bee community was positively affected with 60% tree removal in the forests
for this increased dead wood for nesting and allowed more sunlight to reach their soil nests.
Griswold, Kremen, & Winfree, (2007) also studied New Jersey Pinelands in 1600 m radius
transects to see how altered habitat could be compared to unaltered forests. Their results were
consist with Frohnapples and Ascher et als in that the altered areas such as agricultural fields,
suburban developments, and urban areas had greater species richness and diversity than
extensive forests. GIS also applied to this research. While these results show that forests are not
ideal habitat for bees, there was a note that not all land-use change was beneficial to bees, for
most had a general negative effect on bees (Ascher et al, 2007).
As Bartomeus, Cariveau, & Winfree (2011) discuss from reviewing over 200 articles on
pollinators (not just bees), they have found that the data supports that generally land-use change
has a ratio of 3:1 negative to positive effects. While land-use change may help somewhat in
forested areas or land close to forests like the study sties chosen in the Pinelands, it is more
harmful than beneficial in other areas, so one must consider this while studying the bee
community, for human impact is only going to increase as the population increases. Their studies
also show that the response of the pollinators is largely dependent on the change of floral
resources more than the specific land-use change and that the major negative effects were from
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Native Pinelands Bees 24
extremely modified habitat. When the land-use is moderate, there tends to be positive or negative
responses depending on what was actually changed about the habitat. Other studies that looked at
habitat types instead of simply looking at a gradient of change showed that land-use change had
many positive effects. Mainly it was found that pollinator abundance and richness decreased
where there was an increase in human land-use change in surrounding landscape, but the
pollinator species and abundance increased when natural habitats were altered to anthropogenic
areas. This is believed to be due to the methods of studying the pollinators and a smaller spatial
scale of change in some habitats. Some believe this is due to the fact that land-use change
generally creates early successional habitat that creates more open areas for bees. There is not
enough research to understand all of the aspects yet, but it appears that land-use change is
generally more negative toward bee communities, where specialists and social populations are
more negatively affected than the others. There is not much research like this in agricultural
areas either (Bartomeus, Cariveau, & Winfree, 2011). While this information is important, there
still needs to me studies about how land-use change affects other factors involving a pollinators
life such as nesting grounds.
Budny et al (2005) conducted another survey within the Pinelands of New Jersey that
tested the proximity of habitats and how it related to bees movement. This study found that the
movement was generally based on foraging and that indices were an extremely difficult
calculation within GIS software. Dafni et al (2003) researched linking bees to floral resources
and came to the conclusion that much of the bee community was related to floral diversity,
nectar diversity, available nesting sites, geography, and post-fire age the area if possible. This
information would be interesting to analyze once all of the data identification were completed
with this research and the habitats were examined more thoroughly.
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Native Pinelands Bees 25
Since the results are not finished, this article will be revised once the results come and
other technologies such as GIS will be applied to the data. When another research decides to
study these sites, collection dates should begin earlier so that early spring species are not left out
as well. Once these data are completely identified and databased, the research will hopefully be
published.
Conclusions
These data collected from this survey will be shared with organizations such as the
Pinelands Preserve Alliance and different scientists such as Sam Droege and Dr. John Ascher.
These data will fit in the larger scheme of things to help other current researchers connect certain
aspects found in these data to their own data. Perhaps this research will help them confirm where
a specific species may occur or give new light to a species that was not found in this region
before. These data will be used to in analysis to understand the entire bee community better to
research questions such as why a specific species occurs where or why the bee community is
structured the way it is and many other questions, which would require professional analysis, that
need answering to help native bees.
While the importance of this research may be overlooked by some who do not understand
the pollinator-plant relationship or know anything about bees, this research is far from trivial or
irrelevant. Pollinators, which largely consist of 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). The significance of bees cannot be stressed enough. Native bees are
known to pollinate native flora and many are considered to be specialists, which means that they
pollinate particular species of flowers (Aigner, 2001). Because of this, many bees are at risk,
especially the specialists, for they are vulnerable to change. Native bees are currently declining,
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Native Pinelands Bees 26
yet there is not enough research conducted to understand exactly why or how to find a solution to
help stop this decline. Some reasons 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 instead of simply focusing on one species. Not only
this, but a focus should be on pollinator species composition and abundance instead of simply
focusing on species richness (Bartomeus, Cariveau, & Winfree, 2011), so, once the results are
completed, this research should attempt to analyze the bee community composition instead of
simply noting what species were found. I plan to continue research such as this in graduate
school to broader the known information about native bees and help preserve ecosystems
diversity and food by conserving native bee populations.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank Sam Droege for initially identifying bees. I want to thank Dr. John Ascher
for taking the time out of his day to identify many of the bees collected from the survey as well
as giving us information about more reliable methods of databasing. I also want to thank Dr.
William J. Cromartie for collecting the specimens, making the labels for the specimens, driving
me to New York to Dr. Ascher to ID the specimens, and having much care about his students to
help me make this project highly interesting and useful. Special thanks also to Franklin Parker
Preserve for letting us sample there and Stockton College of letting us sample there as well.
Another thanks to organizations working toward the conservation of native bees such as The
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservations efforts and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance
for letting us share our information with you, making the research hold even more importance.
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Native Pinelands Bees 27
With research such as this, we may be able to begin finding answers to why native bees are
declining and start proposing solutions to help them.
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