Comparing wild bee behaviors among different emergence trap designs

Presenting Author(s)

AK

Alexa Koch

Minneapolis, MN, USA

Co-Author(s)

Julia Brokaw

Graduate Student
University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
ZP

Zach Portman

Researcher
University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
DC

Daniel Cariveau

University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

Ground-nesting bees are abundant and critical pollinators, yet we know relatively little about their nesting habits as their solitary lifestyles make nest sites small and difficult to locate. Historically, bee conservation efforts focus primarily on flower resources and neglect nesting resources. This imbalance can be partially attributed to standard collection techniques, which tend to collect bees while foraging rather than direct from the nest. However in research targeting ground-nesting bees, emergence traps are increasingly being used by researchers that do catch bees directly from their nests. Little has been observed about how bees behave inside of emergence traps. My research aims to observe bee behavior across different genera inside of 3 different designs of emergence traps, to determine if there are significant behavioral differences and if these differences in behavior lead to disproportionate catch success rates. Foraging bees will be collected, cooled, and then placed within a trap and observed to record behaviors displayed. The time elapsed for each bee to reach the collection jar within the trap will also be recorded. If we do not know about bee behavior within emergence traps, we cannot adequately draw conclusions on data collected using them. Emergence traps have the potential to provide information on parts of ground-nesting bee life cycles that are not yet well studied, but first we must understand how bees interact with the traps to give context to the conclusions we may draw from them.