Monitoring, assessing and evaluating the pollinator species (Hymenoptera: apoidea) found on a native brush site, a revegetated site and an urban garden

Abstract

This research presents the findings of a pollinator diversity study that took place at three study sites. Although variation in pollinator diversity occurred between the three sites, fewer pollinators than expected were recorded from the La Joya Tract (revegetated site). Numerous genera and species were recorded from the Havana Tract (native site) as well as the Valley Nature Center (urban garden). In contrast, the La Joya Tract had a comparatively depauperate pollinator fauna. The numbers of pollinator genera and species recorded from the three study sites were decreased in comparison to the total number of genera and species recorded from Hidalgo County. Hidalgo County has 35 known genera and 75 species of bees documented to date. About 40% of the genera and 23% of the species recorded from Hidalgo County were recorded from the Havana Tract in this study, while a mere 8.5% of the genera and 4% of the species were reported from the La Joya Tract and 34% of the genera and 16% of the species were reported from the Valley Nature Center. Although the vascular plant species identified from these study sites were diverse, the floral rewards they provided yielded an insight as to what was going on in terms of pollinator diversity. Plants may yield nectar or pollen floral rewards or both in some cases to pollinators. The current study provides evidence that revegetation of land with plants that primarily provide nectar rewards will result in fewer observed bee taxa than from land revegetated with plants that provide a mix of nectar and pollen floral rewards.