Welcome to Hotel Hymenoptera: monitoring cavity-nesting bee and wasp distribution and their trophic interactions using community science and metabarcoding

By

Handler, Sage
Coveny, Katerina
Braukmann, Thomas
Raine, Nigel E.
Steinke, Dirk

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2026-2-3

Original Publication

Alpine entomology

Volume

10

Pages

1--27

Subjects

Land use , Pollination , range expansion , Urban ecology

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[Sofia, Bulgaria] Pensoft Publishers 2017-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/mbmg.10.139674

 

Abstract

Essential ecosystem services are provided by many interactions, including plant-pollinator, predator-prey, and host-parasitoid. These services support food and natural systems through pollination and pest control, however they are challenging to qualify, and previous observational studies may underestimate their complexity. The cavity nesting Hymenoptera are a good example showing all these three interactions and they can be monitored using trap nests.<br> For this study, trap nests were installed at schools across Canada by community scientists to investigate cavity-nesting bee and wasp distributions and interactions. DNA metabarcoding was used to identify the occupants and their food sources. New bee and wasp distributions were found that might be the result of previous under-sampling or recent range expansions. Detailed bipartite and tripartite networks describing species interactions suggest some novel bee, wasp, and parasite associations. These results encourage further investigation into these interactions using molecular methods as detailed range maps and networks provide information to natural historians and conservationists alike.