The Effects of Socio-economic Variables on Urban Bee Community Composition in Metropolitan Detroit

urbanization;pollinator;lawns;socio-economic;School for Environment and Sustainability

Martin, AustinMohai, Paul ;

University of Michigan

关键词: urbanization;    pollinator;    lawns;    socio-economic;    School for Environment and Sustainability;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/146744/Martin_Austin_Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

In light of pollinator decline, green areas within cities can provide habitat for insect pollinators. As cities sprawl outward, lawns and lawn care chemicals expand in tandem with ecological repercussions, so the role cities play in pollinator conservation becomes increasingly important. Socio-economic factors like income and race may affect patterns of lawn care and cultivated plant diversity, which could affect pollinator communities in ways urban ecologists are only beginning to understand. Here we present a study of bees in 24 residential lawns in the city area and suburbs of Detroit along a socioeconomic gradient. We analyze relationships between census data, floral richness, and native bee abundance, diversity and composition. Through GIS analysis and selection of linear mixed models, we address the following questions, 1) Do temperature and floral species richness affect native bee abundance and genus richness in lawns? and 2) Do the socio-economic factors of income and race affect native bee abundance and richness across Metropolitan Detroit? Results show that both income and race have significant negative relationships with bee abundance while floral richness has a significant positive relationship with bee abundance. Likewise, income has a significant negative relationship with genus richness, but only when suburban sampling sites with high floral richness are removed from the model. Floral richness has a significant positive relationship with genus richness. This highlights the importance of local-level beefriendly lawn landscape characteristics while also pointing to the detrimental landscape-level impact of lawn chemical inputs. These findings have potential relevant policy implications for lawn management, urban development and sprawl, and support policy initiatives on the municipal level to regulate the use of lawn chemicals.