Species richness and abundance of bees in the edge of three different agricultural fields
Abstract
Pollination is a basic form of ecosystem services. Eighty-four percent of the pollination of cultivated plants, and one third of the agricultural production depends on pollination. Bees (Apidae) are the most important pollinators in Europe. The structural changes in landscape, such as fragmentation and edge effect are partly responsible for the current pollination crisis (i.e.: the reduction of the number of pollinators, primarily bees). Therefore, the aim of our research was to study how the distance from the edge affects the abundance and species richness of bees (Apidae), and what are the differences between the agricultural areas. Our research was done on the Heves plane ESA, in May of 2008. We placed yellow water pans on three types of agricultural cultures: six autumn-sown wheat fields, five set-asides and five grasslands. The traps were placed on increased distances from the edge (0, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 meters), above the vegetation. The pans were emptied twice a week for three weeks. All together 1102 individuals of 52 species were found. Analyses of variance (ANOVnovA), Tukey-test, and general linear mixed models were used for statistic analysis. Analyses of variance showed significant differences in terms of species richness and abundance between the cultures. The Tukey-test showed significant differences in case of species richness between wheat fields and set-asides, and in case of abundance between grasslands and wheat fields. The edge-effect varied among the different cultures. Using general linear models, significant differences were found in the number of individuals in the different distance values of grasslands. Our results indicate that not only the quality of the different elements of landscape structures has great significance on bees, but the quality of the edges connecting them. Our study confirms the importance of the detailed landscape-level analysis in case of bees.
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