Translocate solitary bees
Key messages
One replicated trial in India showed that translocating carpenter bees Xylocopa fenestrata in immature stages can establish a population at a new site, but if adult bees are translocated a very small proportion remain at the new site.
Supporting evidence
A study of the subtropical carpenter bee Xylocopa fenestrata on agricultural land in Haryana, India, found that populations could be translocated to a site 3 km away, if this was done with immature stages sealed within hollow stems (Sihag 1993). Of 90 translocated adult bees, only three remained at the new site. Around 40% of bees translocated as young (90 stems moved with young bees inside) stayed after emergence at the new site; 63-70% of these translocated females stayed and began provisioning nests, whereas most males left the site after territorial fights.
