Wild bee communities and plant-pollinator interactions of semi-natural grasslands and fallows in Cserhát, Hungary
Abstract
Pollination is one of the most important ecosystem functions due to its role in fructification of many plant species. The diversity of bees, despite their significance in pollination, is continuously decreasing in many countries. Behind these trends we can suppose strong human impacts, since many studies show relationships between the diversity of bees, flowering plants and the naturalness of habitats. In our study we collected data from bee–plant interactions in dry and semi-dry grasslands on 10 sampling sites in Cserhát colline region in each month from June to August. We used nests and killing vials to sample bees and recorded every observable flower-visitation event. We recorded 113 bee species, with 12 rare and 5 protected species among them. The number of bee species was correlated with the number of flowering plant species which was the lowest in July and the highest in August. The community composition of bees was most affected by the sampling time and not the habitat type. Most of the bee species visited 5 to 10 flowering plant species, therefore the majority of the recorded pollinators are considered generalist.
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