Abstract
We analyse the spatio-temporal diversity patterns of five families of bees (Andrenidae, Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae and Megachilidae) and two families of flower-visiting flies (Bombyliidae and Syrphidae) in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB). Pollination by insects is one of the most important ecological processes in an ecosystem, maintaining plant populations and crop production. Knowing the diversity and resource use patterns of pollinators allows the design of conservation and management strategies. We collected 2310 specimens of 169 species of the 7 families of insects; 1331 plant-insect interactions were recorded in which 39 plant species were involved. We compared the insect diversity and plants visited of four localities within the CCB, considering species diversity of the plants visited by each group of insects by season and locality. More plant species were visited during the rainy season, but three insect families were richer during the dry season. Bombyliidae was the family with more flower visits recorded (426), but Apidae (particularly Apis mellifera) was the group that visited more plant species (Apidae 31 spp., A. mellifera 20 spp.). The abundance of Bombyliidae and the diversity of plants visited by Syrphidae, Megachilidae and Halictidae increases the relevance as pollinators of these groups. We identified the plant species more frequently visited in both seasons. Finally, we discuss how this knowledge can be applied in pollinator conservation strategies specifically in the CCB.
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Acknowledgments
We thank A. Arellano, A. Contreras, J. Hernández, H. Ortega, E. Austria, PRONATURA A.C., DESUVALLE A.C. and CONANP for their assistance in the fieldwork. We also thank H. Brailovsky, A. Zaldívar and C. Mayorga for allowing access to the CNIN-IBUNAM and J. Llorente and A. Luis from the MZFC-UNAM for their assistance and for providing part of the collecting and preparation material. Plants were identified by Gabriel Flores curator of the HUMO-UAEM and Ramiro Cruz of the FCME-UNAM. We thank the Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas UNAM for its support. Support for field work was provided by grants from CONABIO (JF065) to A. Nieto, from CONACyT to OAH (CVU 226224), from Memorial Fund (American Museum of Natural History) to MTO and UGV and from resources of the WWF-Alianza Carlos Slim (L039).
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Ávalos-Hernández, O., Trujano-Ortega, M., García-Vázquez, U.O., Yánez-Ordóñez, O. (2019). Diversity and Resource Use Patterns of Bees and Flies that Visit Flowers in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin. In: Álvarez, F., Ojeda, M. (eds) Animal Diversity and Biogeography of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin. Cuatro Ciénegas Basin: An Endangered Hyperdiverse Oasis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11262-2_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11262-2_8
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