Phenology of a bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) community over a 10 year period in south‐eastern Australia

Abstract

Bee responses to anthropogenic disturbances have received much recent attention in scientific literature. These studies typically involve 1–3 years of sampling along spatial gradients of disturbance, though occasionally greater temporal replication and/or longer time periods are used at the expense of spatial replication. We surveyed bees using a blue vane trap during spring, summer and autumn from 2008 to 2017 at one location in Canberra, Australia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest near‐continuous record of bee activity in the southern hemisphere. We use these data to describe the temporal dynamics of the bee community, which was characterised by high annual variability in overall abundance, richness and composition and a negative correlation between spring rainfall and bee activity. The phenologies of abundant species are also described. Our findings relate only to our study site but are similar to findings from other long‐term studies conducted in the northern hemisphere, which collectively present a picture of high natural variability in bee communities that must be considered when interpreting findings of bee responses to anthropogenic disturbances.

Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees

“…not referred to as a subgenus of Lasioglossum) as has been done in most recent literature (e.g. (Bernhardt et al 2019;Dorey et al 2019;Hall et al 2020;Neave et al 2020)). Thirteen additional non-Australian bee specimen images were sourced from the Natural History Museum UK (Natural History Museum 2014a) in order to provide broader taxonomical and geographical low-light representation.…”

Scholarly shortcomings and a lack of evidence beleaguer bee sampling critique: A response to Prendergast and Hogendoorn (2021)

“…2019; Brown et al . 2020; Neave et al 2020) and claim that our results could lead to the conclusion that ‘ replacing native vegetation with exotic flora or agricultural fields would enhance species richness or abundance of bees ’. In doing so, Prendergast and Hogendoorn are wilfully misrepresenting our work by cherry‐picking specific elements and presenting them out of context.…”

“…Prendergast and Hogendoorn argue that data collected with pan and vane traps leads to 'erroneous interpretations'. They cite only our work (Lentini et al 2012;Hall et al 2019;Brown et al 2020;Neave et al 2020) and claim that our results could lead to the conclusion that 'replacing native vegetation with exotic flora or agricultural fields would enhance species richness or abundance of bees'. In doing so, Prendergast and Hogendoorn are wilfully misrepresenting our work by cherry-picking specific elements and presenting them out of context.…”

FORUM: Methodological shortcomings and lack of taxonomic effort beleaguer Australian bee studies

“…Saunders & Luck 2014; and vane traps (e.g. Lentini et al 2012;Neave et al 2020). [Correction added on 3 May 2021, after first online publication: The citation (Brown et al 2020) was removed from the preceding sentence.].…”

“…This could lead to erroneous interpretations regarding population fluctuations (e.g. Brown et al 2020;Neave et al 2020).…”