Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Question
Asked 11th Mar, 2016
Trapping strategy for ground nesting bees?
Trapping strategy for ground nesting bees?
部分中文背景知识介绍：独栖蜜蜂巢穴与生物学研究，http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-536560-813417.html
In 2007, I was contacted for the pollination problems of the tree oil, Camellia oleifera Abel. This tree has been planted alone Yangtze River in very large area. It helps to prevent the water loss and keep soil in mountainous area. The oil quality has been studied and evaluated to be very high than those made from Brassicaceae. However, the fruit-sets have been quite low even after so many years cultivation. As this species blossoms in late autumn till early spring, there are quite low number of insect species in local fauna. Some scientists, including Prof. Yan-Ru WU thought about the pollination inefficiency. Previously, she found around 15 pollinator bees including Apis spp., with most species have their nests in soil.
So, I was encouraged to study nesting biology of some pollinator bees in Jiangxi and Hunan. Mr. Liang DING and Dr. Dunyuan HUANG stayed in the Yichun to observe the local pollinators. They did a very good job to experiment on many aspects of some bees by digging deep in soil. Basing on nesting biological studies, Dunyuan kept working on building artificial nests after he found a job in Ganzhou. He finally set up these nests as traps in soil and moved them to different places to increase the populations for farmers or for experimental purposes.
Currently, I prefer to use Malaise Traps, Nest Traps and Yellow Pan Traps to sample wild bees. However, many other solitary bees, especially those nesting in soil were probably neglected. Recently, I had a few chats with Dr. Raphael Didham, Dr. Douglas Chesters and Dr. Jeff Ollerton about this issue. It should be fantastic to experiment on artificial soil traps for wild bees.
So, I raise and divide the questions into two as below –
1. What most cost-effective trapping methods do you recommend for sampling wild bees?
2. What trapping strategy do you recommend for sampling ground nesting bees?
Thanks for your kind comments and suggestions.
Best,
cd
Most recent answer
I would like to add that the colour hue and brightness are important factors for trapping success. Whereas bee species seem to exhibit colour hue preferences, bees exhibit a geneal preference for bright colours: Fluorescent colours are much more efficient as compared to non-fluorescent colours. Thus an optimal set of pan traps inculdes fluorescent yellow, fluorescent blue and fluorescent white traps.
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All Answers (8)
The University of Northampton
Hi CD - for ground nesting bees I've sometimes wondered if it would be possible to construct artificial "soil traps" similar to trap nests for cavity nesting, comprising containers of suitable soil dug into the ground. They could then be removed at the end of the season to be dismantled and number of cells counted, etc.
Has anyone tried this?
Jeff
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Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change
I think this should be possible (similar to trap nests for cavity-nesting bees). I think piles of sand (sufficiently moist) could be worth a try (maybe even planted with some heather plants in containers). I´ve talked to Teja Tscharntke about this a while ago but it seems like no one has tried it yet.
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Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dear Christoph Sherber, thanks for your idea. I did not yet think about sand pile with heather plants. Definitely, I should have a try.
cd
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dear Jeff,
Thanks for your quick response and comment. In 2007, my lab members, especially Mr. Liang DING and Dr. Dun-Yuan HUANG started to study nesting biology of pollinator bees for Camellia spp. Some native bees actually dig more than 1 meter deep in soil. We later set up tubes in soil to get more native bees. It seems to be quite successful. However, I'm not quite sure if this approach works fine in other places like deserts.
cd
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Suez Canal University
I have the pleasure to join this interesting discussion. Based on my works with artificial nesting of Megachile, this job is easy to be achieved with cavity nesting bees. I tried to do the same work with Anthohphora wlatoni in China but the bees didn't use the tubes. For the ground nesting bees Im working right now with a nest of Eucera which built their nests around 80cm to 100cm above the ground. The tunnels is not straight and this make the work more harder and the artificial nesting I think will not be possible.
For collecting the bees I used to collect the bees around their nests such as Eucera, Anthohphora and Panurgus with huge numbers of both male and females by sweep net. The yellow pan trap is very useful too.
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Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
My proposal is to use aerial pan traps in a colour similar to that of the flowers of Camelia oleifera.
For literature about aerial pan traps see Nuttman CV and coworkers (2011) The Utility of Aerial Pan-Trapping for Assessing Insect Pollinators Across Vertical Strata. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 84(4):260-270.
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Plant & Food Research, Hamilton, New Zealand
I worked with a group that had done some soil "traps" in order to increase the abundance of a single ground-nesting bee species. Based on that experience, I would say that it is much, much more difficult than for cavity nesters. Ground-nesting bees appear to be sensitive to the type, compaction, and capillarity of the soil. I would recommend other passive sampling techniques, such as pan traps (suggested above) or blue vane traps--see a comparison at the link provided.
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Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
I would like to add that the colour hue and brightness are important factors for trapping success. Whereas bee species seem to exhibit colour hue preferences, bees exhibit a geneal preference for bright colours: Fluorescent colours are much more efficient as compared to non-fluorescent colours. Thus an optimal set of pan traps inculdes fluorescent yellow, fluorescent blue and fluorescent white traps.
1 Recommendation
Similar questions and discussions
Any interest in joining the Working Group and Collaborate to Study on Pollinator Insects in China?
Special Committee on Pollinator Insects was established under the Chinese Entomological Society on Sept. 23rd, 2015 (Chinese version, http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-536560-923997.html). Currently, committee members include Chinese experts on systematics, diversity, pollination biology, apiculture, ecology, genome biology and climate change.
We are going to set up a working group, which we would like to invite external members with expertise on pollinators. If you have any comments or interests, you are warmly welcome to contact me.
Besides, if you are interested in the visits to us, the PIFI fellowship might be a good option to think about (http://english.cas.cn/cooperation/fellowships/201503/P020150715547440270280.pdf).
Thanks for your warm comments, suggestions and supports.
cd at IOZ, Beijing
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