Technical Yearbook 2024

bees. 6,7 This study followed this work to focus on the influence of flowering plant taxonomic and functional richness on bee diversity. Taxonomic richness refers to the number of species in an assemblage, whereas functional richness refers to the variety of ecological, morphological, or life-history traits (for example, flower colour, shape, longevity, and flowering season) among species in an assemblage. In the hypothetical plant communities in Figure 1, Assemblages A and B have equal taxonomic richness, but Assemblage B has higher functional richness. Plant and animal communities with high functional diversity support more diverse ecological functions and more diverse responses to disturbance, which improves the functioning and

FIGURE 2. Data collection of plant assemblage in an Austrian vineyard.

How do flowering plants in vineyard inter-rows influence wild bees? A collaborative study during 2019 - 2020 between Stellenbosch University and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, assessed how different aspects of the plant community in vineyards influence wild bee diversity. 5 Previous work highlighted the importance of floral abundance (total coverage of flowers) in vineyards for

resilience of these communities. 10 We used data that were previously collected from the Stellenbosch region in South Africa and from Carnuntum and Neusiedlersee-Hügelland in Austria (Figure 2). For plants and bees, we selected traits that are relevant to pollination (Figure 3) and then calculated the functional richness of plants and bees for each site based on these

Lecty a) Uses pollen from many plant groups b) Specializes on pollen from 1 plant group

Flowering period a) Spring b) Early summer c) Summer d) Late summer e) Whole season

Nesting a) Ground nesting b) Above-ground nesting

Flower shape

a) Bell and funnel b) Disk c) Flag blossom

Mouthpart length

Sociality a) Solitary b) Colonies

Nectar presence a) Yes b) No

Flower colour a) Pink

Traits used to calculate bee functional richness

Traits used to calculate plant functional richness

b) Purple c) Yellow d) White e) Etc.

Pollen collection type

Flower symmetry a) Radial symmetry b) Bilateral symmetry

Activity period a) Spring b) Early summer c) Summer d) Late summer e) Whole season

Body size

Nectar accessibility a) Nectar openly available b) Nectar hidden

a) Abdomen b) Leg c) Crop

FIGURE 3. Traits used to calculate wild bee and flowering plant functional richness.

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TECHNICAL YEARBOOK 2024