Impact of resource availability on bee diversity.

Abstract

Resource availability is an important predictor of abundance and species richness. In this paper we veri!ed why there is local variation in bee diversity testing the hypothesis that bee species richness and abundance will increase with increasing resource availability. Resource availability was considered here as the number of "owering plants and the number of plant species. Sampling was carried out at two sites in Brazil, the quartzitic range (Ouro Branco) and metaliferous !elds (Ouro Preto). At these sites ecosystems are endangered by high anthropogenic impacts, particularly due to mining and urbanization. #e samples were collected for 10 months in each site, twice a month, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. #e bees belonged to 77 species and 5 subfamilies. Bee species and abundance increased with the increase in the number of plant species and plant abundance at both sites. Bee richness and abundance were higher in Ouro Branco than in Ouro Preto. Our results showed that bee diversity may be regulated by resource availability.