| Floral and nesting resources, habitat structure, and fire influence bee distribution across an open-forest gradient. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 20945767 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Given bees' central effect on vegetation communities, it is important to understand how and why bee distributions vary across ecological gradients. We examined how plant community composition, plant diversity, nesting suitability, canopy cover, land use, and fire history affected bee distribution across an open-forest gradient in northwest Indiana, USA, a gradient similar to the historic Midwest United States landscape mosaic. When considered with the other predictors, plant community composition was not a significant predictor of bee community composition. Bee abundance was negatively related to canopy cover and positively to recent fire frequency, bee richness was positively related to plant richness and abundance of potential nesting resources, and bee community composition was significantly related to plant richness, soil characteristics potentially related to nesting suitability, and canopy cover. Thus, bee abundance was predicted by a different set of environmental characteristics than was bee species richness, and bee community composition was predicted, in large part, by a combination of the significant predictors of bee abundance and richness. Differences in bee community composition along the woody vegetation gradient were correlated with relative abundance of oligolectic, or diet specialist, bees. Because oligoleges were rarer than diet generalists and were associated with open habitats, their populations may be especially affected by degradation of open habitats. More habitat-specialist bees were documented for open and forest/scrub habitats than for savanna/woodland habitats, consistent with bees responding to habitats of intermediate woody vegetation density, such as savannas, as ecotones rather than as distinct habitat types. Similarity of bee community composition, similarity of bee abundance, and similarity of bee richness between sites were not significantly related to proximity of sites to each other. Nestedness analysis indicated that species composition in species-poor sites was not merely a subset of species composition at richer sites. The lack of significant proximity or nestedness effects suggests that factors at a small spatial scale strongly influence bees' use of sites. The findings indicate that patterns of plant diversity, nesting resource availability, recent fire, and habitat shading, present at the scale of a few hundred meters, are key determinants of bee community patterns in the mosaic open-savanna-forest landscape. |
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Authors:
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Ralph Grundel; Robert P Jean; Krystalynn J Frohnapple; Gary A Glowacki; Peter E Scott; Noel B Pavlovic |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America Volume: 20 ISSN: 1051-0761 ISO Abbreviation: Ecol Appl Publication Date: 2010 Sep |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2010-10-15 Completed Date: 2010-11-09 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 9889808 Medline TA: Ecol Appl Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 1678-92 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, 1100 North Mineral Springs Road, Porter, Indiana 46304, USA. rgrundel@usgs.gov |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Animals Bees / physiology* Demography Ecosystem* Fires* Flowers / physiology* Nesting Behavior* Time Factors Trees |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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