Methods
We selected two research ranches affiliated with the University of Alberta to sample pollinators in the summer of 2018. Kinsella (Figure 1a), is situated in central Alberta in the parkland biome. Mattheis (Figure 1b), is situated in southern Alberta in the mixed prairie biome. Each ranch had twelve paired transects, however only 10 sites ended up being accessible at Mattheis and 9 at Kinsella. Control transects were 2.5 km away from honeybee hives (Figure 1), as honeybees do not typically travel distances greater than 2.5 km from their hive, although they can travel up to 5 km distances (Hagler et al., 2011).
Each hive was protected from cattle disturbance with a large gate (Figure 2), and transects were measured to 30 m (Figure 3). Each transect was visited weekly between early June and early September, and sampling was completed between the hours of 9:30am and 5:00pm, the optimal window for pollinator activity (Mallinger et al., 2017). Two observers walked along one side of each transect for 30 minutes, netting any pollinators that landed on reproductive parts of flowers.
After sampling, each specimen was frozen and stored. Identification was completed by thawing the specimens, washing them free of pollen, and pinning them (Figure 5). After pinning, dichotomous keys and dissecting microscopes were used to identify specimens to Genus or further (Figure 4, 6). Plant identification was completed in the field using dichotomous keys and field guides.
After pollinator data was processed, hierarchical cluster dendrograms were created to show the dissimilarities between transects and to show naturally significant groupings. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (metaMDS) ordination was then completed for the statistically significant pollinator groups within regions, treatments, and sampling season. To test the statistical strength of these ordination groupings, Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (perMANOVA) was used. To compare, canonical discriminant analysis was done to find differences between season and treatment.
All analyses were coded with the use of RStudio 3.5.2.
All analyses were coded with the use of RStudio 3.5.2.
References
Hagler, J., et al. (2011). Foraging range of honey bees, Apis mellifera, in alfalfa seed production fields. Journal of Insect Science 11: 1–12.
Mallinger R., et al. (2017). Do managed bees have negative effects on wild bees? A systematic review of the literature. PLoS ONE 12: e0189268.
RStudio Team (2015). RStudio: Integrated Development for R. RStudio, Inc., Boston, MA URL http://www.rstudio.com/.
Mallinger R., et al. (2017). Do managed bees have negative effects on wild bees? A systematic review of the literature. PLoS ONE 12: e0189268.
RStudio Team (2015). RStudio: Integrated Development for R. RStudio, Inc., Boston, MA URL http://www.rstudio.com/.