Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savanna
Abstract Whereas the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States historically experienced fire primarily during the mid‐summer lightning season, managers today typically apply prescribed fire during the late winter or early spring months. The ecological implications of this discrepancy remain po...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10450 |
| _version_ | 1797732743497383936 |
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| author | Michael Ulyshen Kevin Robertson Scott Horn Cinnamon Dixon |
| author_facet | Michael Ulyshen Kevin Robertson Scott Horn Cinnamon Dixon |
| author_sort | Michael Ulyshen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Whereas the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States historically experienced fire primarily during the mid‐summer lightning season, managers today typically apply prescribed fire during the late winter or early spring months. The ecological implications of this discrepancy remain poorly understood, especially with regard to pollinators and their interactions with flowers. In a replicated field experiment, we compared the abundance and richness of bees and bee–flower interactions among pine savanna plots in Florida that were burned either during the winter, spring, summer, or fall. We netted 92 bee species from 77 species of flowers, representing 435 unique bee–flower interactions in total. When analyzing the results from each month separately, we detected significant short‐term reductions in the number of bees and bee–flower interactions following fires regardless of season. Although bee abundance and richness did not differ over the entire season, bee–flower interaction richness was significantly higher overall in spring and summer plots than in fall plots and the composition of both bees and bee–flower interactions differed significantly among treatments. Several bee–flower interactions were significantly associated with one or more of the treatments. Some of these associations could be attributed to differences in flowering phenology among treatments. Taken together, our findings suggest that season of fire has modest but potentially important implications for interactions between bees and flowers in southeastern pine ecosystems. Because most flowering plants within our study region are pollinated by a variety of bees and other insects, and most bees endemic to the region are polylectic, season of fire may not be very important to either group overall. However, the timing of fire may be more important to particular species including certain flower specialists and fire‐sensitive taxa such as butterflies. Future research targeting such species would be of interest. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:19:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b23ddd6cb3e54b81b5422fe6919931e0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:19:00Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-b23ddd6cb3e54b81b5422fe6919931e02023-08-30T06:50:40ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582023-08-01138n/an/a10.1002/ece3.10450Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savannaMichael Ulyshen0Kevin Robertson1Scott Horn2Cinnamon Dixon3USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station Athens Georgia USATall Timbers Research Station Tallahassee Florida USAUSDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station Athens Georgia USATall Timbers Research Station Tallahassee Florida USAAbstract Whereas the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States historically experienced fire primarily during the mid‐summer lightning season, managers today typically apply prescribed fire during the late winter or early spring months. The ecological implications of this discrepancy remain poorly understood, especially with regard to pollinators and their interactions with flowers. In a replicated field experiment, we compared the abundance and richness of bees and bee–flower interactions among pine savanna plots in Florida that were burned either during the winter, spring, summer, or fall. We netted 92 bee species from 77 species of flowers, representing 435 unique bee–flower interactions in total. When analyzing the results from each month separately, we detected significant short‐term reductions in the number of bees and bee–flower interactions following fires regardless of season. Although bee abundance and richness did not differ over the entire season, bee–flower interaction richness was significantly higher overall in spring and summer plots than in fall plots and the composition of both bees and bee–flower interactions differed significantly among treatments. Several bee–flower interactions were significantly associated with one or more of the treatments. Some of these associations could be attributed to differences in flowering phenology among treatments. Taken together, our findings suggest that season of fire has modest but potentially important implications for interactions between bees and flowers in southeastern pine ecosystems. Because most flowering plants within our study region are pollinated by a variety of bees and other insects, and most bees endemic to the region are polylectic, season of fire may not be very important to either group overall. However, the timing of fire may be more important to particular species including certain flower specialists and fire‐sensitive taxa such as butterflies. Future research targeting such species would be of interest.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10450Apoideaforestlongleaf pinephenological mismatchseasonalityshortleaf pine |
| spellingShingle | Michael Ulyshen Kevin Robertson Scott Horn Cinnamon Dixon Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savanna Ecology and Evolution Apoidea forest longleaf pine phenological mismatch seasonality shortleaf pine |
| title | Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savanna |
| title_full | Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savanna |
| title_fullStr | Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savanna |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savanna |
| title_short | Effects of season of fire on bee‐flower interaction diversity in a fire‐maintained pine savanna |
| title_sort | effects of season of fire on bee flower interaction diversity in a fire maintained pine savanna |
| topic | Apoidea forest longleaf pine phenological mismatch seasonality shortleaf pine |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10450 |
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