Effect of Habitat Restoration on Native Bee Communities at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (2008-2010)

Authors

Karen Wright

Date

9-15-2010

Abstract

Native bees interact closely with their host plants and therefore, can be good indicators of habitat diversity and health. Due to the physical aspects of tamarisk removal, reintroduction of native vegetation (through seeding or natural recolonization) is a process that can take years to stabilize. The soil has been greatly disturbed and the recruitment of reproductively mature plants and therefore, the creation of a healthy seed bank takes time. Many types of adult insects, such as bees, wasps, flies, and beetles, use nectar as a source of energy. However bees dont just drink nectar, they also use the pollen as a source of nutrition on which to rear their offspring. Tamarisk is an incredibly good source of nectar, but is a lousy source of pollen. Since it is wind pollinated, the pollen grains are small and not very nutritious. Insect pollinated plants on the other hand provide both nectar and nutritious pollen. Many of these plants also have very tight relationships with their respective bees, in which case one species of bee may only pollinate a single genus of plant. Bees can be used to monitor the recovery of areas where tamarisk has been removed. The diversity of bees can vary greatly temporally and spatially. Bee traps are a low maintenance and low time commitment way of monitoring bees in xeric systems.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/1928/29997

Other Identifier

SEV215

Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier

knb-lter-sev.215.173900

Document Type

Dataset

Comments

This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/3e7fc4aa90db078b4ceb9c98c76f6ad3, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/3e7fc4aa90db078b4ceb9c98c76f6ad3. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.

Rights

Data Policies: This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement of the Sevilleta LTER. Datasets must be cited as in the example provided. A copy of any publications using these data must be supplied to the Sevilleta LTER Information Manager. By downloading any data you implicitly acknowledge the LTER Data Policy (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html).

Source

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/3e7fc4aa90db078b4ceb9c98c76f6ad3

Temporal coverage

2008-03-24 - 2010-11-01

Spatial coverage

Situated between the Chupadera Mountains to the west and the San Pascual Mountains to the east, the 57,331-acre New Mexico refuge harbors a wild stretch of the Rio Grande, a ribbon of cottonwood and willow trees visible on the landscape from distant mesas. BDA NWR is south of Socorro, NM.

DOI

doi:10.6073/pasta/3e7fc4aa90db078b4ceb9c98c76f6ad3

Permanent URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/3e7fc4aa90db078b4ceb9c98c76f6ad3

Recommended Citation

Wright, Karen (2010-09-15): Effect of Habitat Restoration on Native Bee Communities at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (2008-2010). Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/3e7fc4aa90db078b4ceb9c98c76f6ad3