Status, Distribution, and Conservation of North Florida's Imperiled Bees

Florida’s sandhill and scrub ecosystems support a unique diversity of flowering plants and pollinating insects, among which bees represent the greatest contribution to plant reproduction and genetic diversity. Despite the important role they play in these ecosystems, many of Florida’s native bees are poorly understood with respect to their geographic distribution, floral preferences, and overall conservation status. This project aims to fill these data gaps by monitoring native bee communities on state-managed conservation lands. The information generated by this project will contribute to our understanding of individual species’ conservation status and may also reveal components of habitat management important for promoting abundance and diversity of native bees more generally.