Use of nest boxes by 31 species of solitary bee and wasp in agricultural areas and forest in Manabi, Ecuador

Published source details

Tylianakis J.M., Klein A.M. & Tscharntke T. (2005) Spatiotemporal variation in the diversity of hymenoptera across a tropical habitat gradient. Ecology, 86, 3296-3302.

Background

Many solitary bee and wasp species rely on pre-existing cavities in dead wood or plant stems for nest sites. The availability of these nest sites can be augmented with nest boxes. This study demonstrates the use of nest boxes by a range of species in agricultural habitats and forest fragments in the province of Manabi, southwestern Ecuador.

Action

Nest boxes consisted of a PVC tube (length 22 cm, diameter 15 cm) filled with 20 cm long sections of reed Arundo donax stem of varying diameters (2–20 mm). The boxes were hung from trees or wooden posts 1.5 m above ground, with a sticky barrier (Tanglefoot) at the attachment point to exclude ants.

Nine nest boxes were placed 25 m apart from one another at each of 48 sites (432 nest boxes in total). The sites were 12 rice fields, 12 pasture fields, 12 shade coffee plantations, six abandoned coffee plantations (secondary forest) and six partly disturbed forest fragments.

Boxes were left in place from June 2003 to May 2004. They were checked and sprayed with a fungicide (Fitoraz 76 PM, Bayer) monthly. Occupied stems were removed each month, replaced with new stems, and larvae reared to adults for identification. Parasite and parasitoid species are not included in the analysis.

Consequences

In total, 15,047 individuals of 31 species of bee (Apidae and Megachilidae) and wasp (Eumenidae, Mutilidae, Pompilidae and Sphecidae) used the nest boxes.

On average, between eight and 12 species per plot used the nest boxes over the entire year.

Species richness and abundance were different for different land use types, with the highest numbers of species in forest and abandoned coffee plots and the highest numbers of individual bees and wasps (numbers not given) in rice and pasture plots.

Note: If using or referring to this published study, please read and quote the original paper. This can be viewed at: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/05-0371