Use of nest boxes by solitary bees in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Published Source
Roubik D.W. & Villanueva-Gutiérrez R. (2009) Invasive Africanized honey bee impact on native solitary bees: a pollen resource and trap analysis.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 98, 152-160 (added by: Dicks L. 2010).
Background
Provision of artificial nest sites is one strategy to conserve declining or threatened bees. This study monitored the use of nest boxes by solitary bee species over 17 years, in Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve (19°34’N, 88°W) and its buffer zone, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Action
Nest boxes were installed at four sites along an 80 km transect from Palmas to Vigia Chico, from February 1988 until October 1991 and from January 2001 until October 2005. A fifth site in the Reserve’s buffer zone was added from January 2001 to October 2005.
Nesting blocks were 5 x 10 x 15 cm blocks of pine, drilled with 12 cm long tunnels of 3, 5 and 7 mm diameter (five holes of each size and fifteen holes per block). Twenty blocks were placed at each site, in groups of two, tied with wire onto low tree or shrub branches. Every two months, the blocks were replaced and the old blocks moved to outdoor rearing cages. Small plastic vials (Eppendorf tubes) were glued over holes that had been capped, to capture emerging insects for identification.
Consequences
The most abundant nesting bees were Megachile zaptlana and the oil-collecting bee Centris analis. Species of the genera Heriades, Anthidiellum and Anthodioctes were also recorded. On average, between 20 and 110 nests were made per site in each monitoring year.
There was no general decline or increase in the number of nests per site over the years of the study. The highest number of nests was recorded in 2001. Some Megachilid species that were initially scarce, such as from the genus Anthodioctes, were not found in the later years of the survey. Africanized honey bees Apis mellifera became naturalised in the area between the first and second monitoring periods.
The number of nesting bees appeared to be affected by climate conditions such as rainfall and hurricanes. The year with lowest nest abundance was 1991, a drought year with the lowest rainfall.