There's no place like home: Investigating the ideal nesting requirements of Megachilidae bees in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

Abstract

Solitary mason bees in the family Megachilidae are known to be important pollinators worldwide. They are important pollinators of natural ecosystems and also are widely used for the commercial pollination of crop plants such as almonds, cherries, peaches, plums, and apples. Given that they are such important pollinators, there is still little known about their nesting biology. The goal of this study was to determine which specific site characteristics Megachilids look for when choosing a nest. Eleven sub-alpine meadows around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado were selected, and ten artificial trap-nests were placed on trees within each meadow. Site-specific characteristics such as floral resources and quantity of nesting material, along with the nest-specific criteria of nest height and aspect were recorded and compared to nesting within each trap-nest and site as a whole. We found that floral resources within a site do not play a role in Megachilidae nesting, but the amount of nesting material is positively correlated to the amount of bees nesting at a given site. This information can be applied towards both habitat restoration and land management in that emphasis should be given to the availability of nesting material to foster healthy populations of these pollinators.

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