| Description: |
It is relatively unknown which species of bees utilize pipeline Right of Ways. Most recent Right of Way research focuses on bees found on electrical transmission Right of Ways instead. Ohio is also relatively understudied in terms of bee richness. This project sought to document bees that are found in these pipeline Right of Ways in 4 heavily forested counties in eastern Ohio. A total of 3950 specimens were collected, accounting for 140 species across two years of sampling (2016 and 2018). Overall bee abundance peaked mid-season, with the highest abundance observed in July. The majority of bees collected were solitary, floral generalist species. The most abundant species, Augochlora pura (Say), accounted for over 20% of all specimens collected. The other most common species were Apis mellifera Linnaeus, Augochlorella aurata (Smith), Bombus impatiens Cresson, Ceratina calcarata Robertson, Ceratina mikmaqi Rehan and Sheffield, Halictus ligatus Say, Lasioglossum cressonii (Robertson), Lasioglossum coriaceum (Smith), and Lasioglossum versatum (Robertson). Eight bee species were not native to Ohio, though the most common non-native species was the human reared Western Honey Bee, Apis mellifera. Nine bee species were also cleptoparasites of other bees, though overall cleptoparasite numbers were low, accounting for only 15 specimens. Several uncommon specialist bees were also documented including Cemolobus ipomoeae (Robertson), and Osmia texana Cresson. Overall, this study serves as a baseline for understanding the species of bees that occur in managed pipeline Right of Ways in eastern Ohio. |