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Bees of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge—A Preliminary Report on a Bee Survey in a Vulnerable Semi-Desert Grassland of the Sonoran Desert

Open-File Report 2024-1032
Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
By: , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20241032

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Abstract

Pollinators are vital to the continued existence and seed production of about 87.5 percent of all flowering plants (Ollerton and others, 2011). In the semi-desert grasslands of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, in the Sonoran Desert of the United States, flowering forbs provide seed vital to the food base of wildlife, including the 136 species of resident and migratory birds using the Refuge’s grasslands and, notably, the endangered Colinus virginianus ridgwayi (masked bobwhite quail) for which the Refuge was established. The Sonoran Desert is known for its high diversity of native bees, but these pollinators have not been extensively described at the Refuge. We conducted a survey of native bees at the Refuge from late May 2019 through early February 2020. Of all bees collected, we subsampled, curated, and identified over 3,300 bees representing 39 genera within four families (Andrenidae, Apidae, Halictidae, Megachilidae). For about 8 percent of the sampled bees, we further identified 36 species and several potentially new, undescribed species using either visual or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) barcoding methods. Sampling was done using bee bowls and blue-vane traps. Our initial results suggest the Refuge is species rich in native bees and supports diverse bee faunas across subtle differences in plant composition and location within the Refuge. Continued survey, inventory, and focused monitoring of the bee populations of the Refuge will be valuable in understanding the relationship of bee populations with the health and productivity of seed-bearing plants, effect of prescribed fire on bee fauna, the ongoing dynamics of bee-plant interactions, and how the bee pollinator community of the Refuge is responding to stressors, such as invasive species proliferation and changing climate conditions.

Suggested Citation

Thomas, K.A., Hoover, A.M., and Busby, M.K., 2024, Bees of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge—A preliminary report on a bee survey in a vulnerable semi-desert grassland of the Sonoran Desert: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2024–1032, 21 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20241032.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

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Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Supplemental Tables
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Bees of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge—A preliminary report on a bee survey in a vulnerable semi-desert grassland of the Sonoran Desert
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2024-1032
DOI 10.3133/ofr20241032
Year Published 2024
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Southwest Biological Science Center
Description Report: vii, 21 p.; Data Release
Country United States
State Arizona
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details