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The potential of cleptoparasitic bees as indicator taxa for assessing bee communities

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Abstract

Many factors affect bee diversity and abundance, and knowledge of these is crucial for maintaining healthy bee communities. However, there are few means to fully evaluate the status of bee communities; most are based on monitoring species richness and abundance and do not consider the diverse life histories of bees. We propose that functional diversity of bee communities offers a more consistent means of evaluation and suggest that cleptoparasitic bees in particular show much promise as indicator taxa. Cleptoparasitic bees play a stabilising role within bee communities. They represent the apex of bee communities and are the first guild to respond to disturbances, are easily distinguished as such and are diverse enough to be representative of entire bee communities. The diversity and abundance of cleptoparasites in relation to all bees is indicative of the status of the total bee community, and monitoring them should form an integral part of assessing bee communities.

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Acknowledgements

The initial study was completed as part of the requirements of the doctoral thesis of CSS. We thank the orchardists and land owners that kindly provided CSS access to properties throughout the study, and staff at the Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada for support. The initial work was funded by several Agri-Focus 2000 Technology Development Project grants and an AgriFutures grant to CSS. Further development of ideas presented here was funded by the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canadian Pollination Initiative (CANPOLIN) to LP and PGK. This is contribution number 68 of the Canadian Pollination Initiative.

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Correspondence to Cory S. Sheffield.

Additional information

Le potentiel des abeilles cleptoparasites comme taxa indicateurs dans l’évaluation des communautés d’abeilles

Communauté des pollinisateurs / guilde / santé des écosystèmes / espèces indicatrices

Die Möglichkeit, kleptoparasitische Bienen als Indikatoren zur Beurteilung von Bienengemeinschaften zu verwenden

Bestäubergemeinschaften / Gildenstrukturen / Kleptoparasiten / Indikatortaxa / Ökosystemstatus

Manuscript Editor: David Tarpy

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Sheffield, C.S., Pindar, A., Packer, L. et al. The potential of cleptoparasitic bees as indicator taxa for assessing bee communities. Apidologie 44, 501–510 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-013-0200-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-013-0200-2

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