SGER: Bee Biodiversity and Population Dynamics in Desert Ecosystems: the Role of Seasonality

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

This project is designed to examine the hypotheses that solitary bee species have radiated in deserts because social bee species are excluded by highly seasonal bloom, that nesting opportunities for ground-nesting bees are enhanced in deserts, and that seasonality increases floral diversity or creates strong selection for host-plant synchrony and pollen specialization by bees. The field work will be an international collaboration that takes advantage of an unusual landscape experiment in the Chihuahuan Desert. Differing land use on US and Mexican lands provides opportunities to use adjacent desert and riparian areas to evaluate how floral and nesting environments influence bee diversity and abundance. This area, located in the enter of peak bee species diversity in the world, is well-suited to distinguish variation in bee diversity due to ecological factors from the natural dynamics of bees in undisturbed areas. Baseline data is critical, and an abrupt change in land ownership has already begun to affect the ecology of the region. The project will begin surveys immediately to gather distribution and ecological data at the beginning of what will likely be a extended trajectory of ecological and environmental change. This project is supported under the guidelines of the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (NSF 00-2: II.D.12.a).