Honors College Thesis
 

Wildfire Severity Has a Minimal Influence on Pollen Diversity Used by Developing Mason Bees (Osmia lignaria) in Mixed Conifer Forest

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/k930c436m

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  • Native bees are critically important organisms that support biodiversity and crop production via their pollination services. Wildfires in temperate conifer forests can increase bee abundance and flowering plant density due to increased light exposure, but little information is available regarding how wildfire severity influences provisioning to bee offspring, which is critical for their development. We used secondary sampling methods to examine pollen collected by the blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria propinqua) across a wildfire severity gradient at the Douglas Complex in southwestern Oregon, USA. We photographed and characterized pollen grains by shape and size to create distinct types. We found 16 unique pollen types provisioned to blue orchard bee offspring across the wildfire severity gradient, with 5 types being the most frequently provisioned. When examining the mean number of pollen types provisioned per brood cell, we found no evidence of a relationship between fire severity. We found strong evidence that male offspring receive more pollen types on average than female offspring. We found no evidence that fire severity influenced the diversity of unique pollen types provisioned to blue orchard bee offspring.
  • Key Words: fire severity, mixed conifer forest, blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, pollen use
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  • Ongoing Research
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  • 2020-11-15 to 2021-12-16

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