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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #80356
Title: OSMIA (HYMENOPTERA: MEGACHILIDAE) DIVERSITY AT A SITE IN CENTRAL COASTAL CALIFORNIA

Author
item BARTHELL, JOHN - UNIV OF CALIF BERKLEY
item Griswold, Terry
item FRANKIE, GORDON - UNIV OF CALIF BERKLEY
item THORP, ROBBIN - UNIV OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS

Submitted to: Journal of Kansas Entomological Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/31/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Despite over one hundred years of study on native bees we have virtually no idea what the impact of landscape change has been on native bee populations. This is the first study to look at changes in a bee fauna at a local site. Collections of mason bees made fifty years apart at a site in the South Coast Range of California suggest that at least two of the thirty species have been lost over that period. Comparison with other inventories suggests that foothill and montane regions of California are particularly rich in mason bees.

Technical Abstract: Thirty species of the megachilid bee genus Osmia were recorded at a research reservation in central coastal California during two survey periods: 1937-43 and 1987-92. Diversity remained constant at 23 species between surveys. However, cumulative diversity increased from 23 to 30 species. The total number of species at this geographic locale is relatively high when compared with nine other surveys but is most typical of diversities found at other montane, mid-elevation latitudes. Differences between study periods suggest that long-term surveys are required to accurately assess species diversity.