<p class="HeadingRunIn"><strong>“Bee-Flower-People Relationships, Field Biologists, and Conservation in Northwest Urban Costa Rica and Beyond.”</strong></p>

Abstract

The forests of Costa Rica are rich in a wide variety of pollinator types and a very diverse flora that supports them. Our research group from the University of California, Berkeley and Texas A &amp; M University, College Station has been researching the ecology of one pollinator group, the bees, in the northwest Guanacaste dry forest region since 1969. Much natural forest existed in this area when we first began the work. But, many land use changes have occurred over the years to present day to the point that it is difficult to find tracts of undisturbed forest suitable for field research, especially those not affected by wildfires, which are now common. Further, urban areas in the region continue to grow with increasing numbers of people populating the region. In this paper we provide an overview of our past bee-flower work for a historical perspective, and then weave in people that have now become an obvious ecological component of current bee-flower relationships. We also explore new questions that have become relevant through time, especially those related to researchers and potential conservation opportunities to share their stories with audiences that may extend their knowledge for practical use. Finally, we propose that researchers plan to devote some of their precious time establishing relationships with people in conserving what is left of bee-flower relationships in urban environments in Guanacaste and beyond in the country. Avenues for extending this knowledge are explored in this paper.

Native and non-native plants attract diverse bees to urban gardens in California

“…This interest is coupled with an awareness that pollinators are declining globally (Buchmann & Nabhan 1996;Cane & Tepedino 2001;Potts et al 2010;Williams et al 2014;Baldock et al 2015;Atkins & Atkins 2016;Koh et al 2016;). These trends have also prompted conservation efforts for bee pollinators in agricultural and urban environments (NAS 2007;Hernandez et al 2009;Mader et al 2011;Frankie et al 2014Frankie et al , 2018Kleijn et al 2014;Baldock et al 2015;Harrison et al 2017).…”

“…In our California experience, one common question that emerges from urban audiences is, should native and non-native host plants be used to encourage bee species activity in gardens or similar types of plantings? There is growing interest and some debate on this question (Pardee & Philpott 2014;Salisbury et al 2015;Frankie et al 2018). See also Tepedino et al 2008 andWilliams et al 2011 for different, but relevant views.…”

Asociación entre abejas sin aguijón (Apidae, Meliponini) y la flora del bosque seco en la región norte de Guanacaste, Costa Rica

“…Las ASA juegan un importante papel en la polinización de las plantas y en la agricultura en particular (Araújo et al, 2004;Batista et al, 2016, Frankie et al, 2018; su labor polinizadora contribuye a la formación de frutos y semillas y, por tanto, a la provisión de alimento para la fauna frugívora, tanto silvestre como doméstica e incluso para poblaciones humanas (Sparagnino et al, 2014). Son, además, una importante alternativa al uso de las abejas Apis mellifera en la polinización comercial de cultivos agrícolas (Slaa et al, 2006).…”

Inventario de emisiones de mercurio en Costa Rica en el 2014 utilizando la herramienta del PNUMA en un nivel N2

“…Las ASA juegan un importante papel en la polinización de las plantas y en la agricultura en particular (Araújo et al, 2004;Batista et al, 2016, Frankie et al, 2018; su labor polinizadora contribuye a la formación de frutos y semillas y, por tanto, a la provisión de alimento para la fauna frugívora, tanto silvestre como doméstica e incluso para poblaciones humanas (Sparagnino Revista de Ciencias Ambientales (Trop J Environ Sci). EISSN: 2215-3896.…”

“…Mencionan que la presencia de periodos lluviosos con baja precipitación, seguidos de períodos de sequías, en combinación con el cambio de uso del suelo, son responsables de la declinación general de las poblaciones de abejas nativas en las tierras bajas de Guanacaste. Estos datos son más preocupantes, al considerar, como lo establecen Frankie et al (2018), que en Costa Rica hay cerca de 8 500 especies de plantas de floración y cerca de un 60 % de ellas son polinizadas por especies de abejas nativas.…”