Threats to the diversity of solitary bees in a neotropical dry forest in Central America
Although the Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve in Costa Rica was set aside to ensure the survival of the bees, as well as the other fauna and flora, the survival of this reserve and the remaining Central American dry forest and its diversity will require immediate and decisive management action. The extensive grassland, pastures and savannah, primarily consisting of the introduced jaragua grass along with the frequent fires that help maintain the grass, is slowly encroaching on the remaining forest. The grass shades out the native grasses and many newly germinating tree seedlings. The trees that do manage to survive a year or two are removed by the fires. These fires burn and kill the lower limbs of trees on the forest edge along with the small secondary foliage opening the edge to sunlight providing the jaragua grass the opportunity to invade deeper into the forest. This results in the fire penetrating deeper the next year and so on. The grass even invades openings deeper in the forest beginning the development of grassland within the forest. These frequent fires also reduce the resources needed by the bees. These include loss of nectar (needed by males to maintain reproductive territories and by females for nesting energy), the loss of male territorial sites, loss of pollen and oil resources needed for nest provision, loss of tree hole nesting sites, increasing the bees exposure to predators and parasites, and increasing their exposure to unfavourable environmental conditions. As these large tree pollinators decline, so too does the pollination of the various large bee-adapted tree and vine-liana species.
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | biblioteca |
| Published: |
Wallingford (RU)
1993
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| Subjects: | APIDAE, BIODIVERSIDAD, BOSQUE SECO, POLINIZACION, DISTRIBUCION NATURAL, RESERVA BIOLOGICA, LOMAS DE BARBUDAL, REGION NEOTROPICAL, AMERICA CENTRAL, |
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