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1 November 2008 The Bee Fauna of Residential Gardens in a Suburb of New York City (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)
Evelyn D. Fetridge, John S. Ascher, Gail A. Langellotto
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Abstract

As suburban landscapes expand, it is critical to understand their capacity to support wildlife. Pollinators, specifically bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), are to some degree compatible with urbanization and may be able to exist in suburbs in diverse assemblages. We surveyed 21 residential gardens for bees in Westchester County, a suburban area immediately north of New York City. From a sample of 1,675 individuals, we documented 110 species, of which 95% were native, 50% were solitary, and 93% were polylectic. In terms of abundance of specimens, eusocial (50% of specimens), native (97%), and polylectic (98%) bees were dominant. Contrary to our expectation, based on previous bee surveys in urban landscapes, the bee community documented was not depauperate in either soil-nesting or parasitic species (65 and 19% of species, respectively), nor was it enriched in exotic species (6% of species). Instead, the assemblage resembled the richer bee fauna documented at a 1,520-ha research preserve (forest) located in the same region, although certain specialist (oligolectic) and/or forest-associated species were absent. These results suggest that suburban landscapes in eastern North America have the potential to host relatively diverse and intact bee communities.

Evelyn D. Fetridge, John S. Ascher, and Gail A. Langellotto "The Bee Fauna of Residential Gardens in a Suburb of New York City (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)," Annals of the Entomological Society of America 101(6), 1067-1077, (1 November 2008). https://doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746-101.6.1067
Received: 29 April 2008; Accepted: 1 July 2008; Published: 1 November 2008
JOURNAL ARTICLE
11 PAGES

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KEYWORDS
bee conservation
biodiversity
parasitic bees
soil-nesting species
suburban development
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