Pollen types collected by bees in different field types
Description
Data were collected to explore the impacts of added pollinator habitat planted adjacent or far away from soybean fields on the bee community and soybean yield (see Levenson, Hannah K; Sharp, April E; Tarpy, David R (2022), “Bee community metrics in different field types”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/tfdcmfpwz9.1). This dataset includes information on pollen types from bees collected in three field types: first planted pollinator habitat, second a soybean field planted adjacent to the habitat (which acts as a treatment field), and third a soybean field planted far away from the habitat (which acts as a negative control field). Bees were only collected if actively visiting a flower. Focus was placed on three of the most abundant bee species in the study: Apis mellifera, Bombus impatiens, and Xylocopa virginica.
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Bees were collected from 8 sites across North Carolina using netting surveys. Surveys were conducted for a total of 30 minutes and repeated twice per day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, to account for temporal variation. Surveys were conducted 2-3 times across the soybean bloom period. (see Levenson, Hannah K; Sharp, April E; Tarpy, David R (2022), “Bee community metrics in different field types”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/tfdcmfpwz9.1). Bees were stored in individual microcentrifuge tubes and transported back to the lab on ice. Samples were stored at -80 C until pollen could be removed for analysis. For analysis, pollen was removed from each specimen using forceps and slide mounted. Forceps were cleaned with ethanol in between each sample. Slides were stained with Fuchsin Jelly and then counted under a light microscope at 40x magnification. Pollen grains were categorized into three pollen types: soybean pollen, habitat pollen (plant types present in the pollinator habitat), and environmental pollen (plant types not present in the pollinator habitat).