260— Patterns of Occupancy of Artificial Nest Sites by Native Bees

Although people tend to think of honeybees when they think about pollination, many species of native bees are actually important pollinators. Declining native bee populations can be supported in several ways, including reducing pesticide use, providing native flowers as a food source, leaving natural nest sites unaltered, or even by providing artificial nests. At SUNY Geneseo, a bee barn with eleven wooden boxes filled with natural reed cavities of varying sizes is in the Spencer J Roemer Arboretum. Female bees lay brood in these cavities, and provision food for the developing young. Some native bees are overwintering in these cavities. I collected half of the boxes from the arboretum and opened up half of the tubes to identify the contents. I will analyze relationships between the contents of the tube and several observations including the number of immature bees, the size of the tube, which is approximately 6mm or 8mm, and the type of tube filling, which can be grass, leaves, dark or light mud, or sap. This will indicate which overwintering species are utilizing artificial nests. It may indicate which size tube is more supportive of desirable native bees, and which natural materials they use for overwintering.