Solitary bees in Pampean agroecosystems: a review about current status of knowledge

TORRETTA, JUAN PABLO; MARRERO, HUGO J.; GONZÁLEZ-VAQUERO, ROCÍO; GARIBALDI, LUCAS A.

JOURNAL OF APICULTURAL RESEARCH

INT BEE RESEARCH ASSOC

Año: 2023 p. 1 - 20

0021-8839

ThePampean region constitutes one of the most extensive and productivegrasslands in the world and experienced an abrupt agriculturalexpansion in the 20th century, which transformed the landscape into amosaic of agricultural fields, extensive pasture lands for cattle,and scarce semi-natural habitats. These anthropic modificationsstrongly impact biodiversity, including solitary bees. In Pampeanagroecosystems, the ecology of these important insects has beenpoorly studied. Here, we synthesise the information from our studiesin four Argentine Pampean agroecosystems. Our aims are to present areliable portrait of the diversity of solitary bees, provide a shortoverview of the current state of knowledge, compare our results withother studies carried out in the Pampean agroecosystem, and discussthe biological and anthropic threats. We analysed ca. 3500individuals belonging to 82 wild bee species/morphospecies in 31genera of five families, however, this does not represent the totalrichness, but serves as a baseline. Additionally, we analysed a totalof 20 cleptoparasite bee species and other predator organisms (wasps,flies, and beetles). We found that low floral diversity (mainlyexotic species), and the use of agrochemicals could be limitingsolitary bee populations. In this current agricultural scenario,solitary bee species face a complicated situation as the crophomogenization and the low availability of semi-natural habitats playagainst their survival. We are facing a pivotal moment in which wemust rethink how to produce food and other resources, adopting a moreenvironmentally friendly management approach that considers allparticipants (animals, plants and ourselves).p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; line-height: 115%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background: transparent }p.ctl { font-family: "DejaVu Sans" }a:link { color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline }