Wild Bee Conservation: Habitat Heterogeneity and Ecological Improvement in Agricultural Land With Open Grassland
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
- 2Department of Integrative Biology, Institute of Zoology Boku University Vienna Austria
- 3Syndicat intercommunal à vocation multiple (SIAS) Niederanven Luxembourg
- 4National Museum of Natural History of Luxembourg Luxembourg City Luxembourg
Abstract
Wild bee populations are declining due to habitat loss and degradation. Flower‐rich heterogenous grasslands have the potential to compensate for the loss and provide valuable habitat for wild bees. To investigate the effects of different levels of habitat heterogeneity and of ecological habitat improvement to increase foraging resources on wild bee communities, we comparatively studied two Central European grassland types in Austria (AT) and Luxembourg (LU) using pan traps. We collected and identified > 5000 individuals representing considerable fractions of wild bee fauna of these countries and characterised habitat heterogeneity (number of habitat elements, ecotone lengths) using GIS data and flower‐colour abundance (white, yellow, blue) using drone imaging. Our findings suggest that macro‐scale heterogeneity alone may not drive wild bee assemblages in LU, pointing to the potential overriding importance of unmeasured microhabitat variables, such as nesting substrates and taxonomic floral composition. In AT, however, wild bee abundance increased with habitat heterogeneity as measured by the length of ecotones with trees and bushes. Ecological improvement of habitat was important in LU, in that formerly intensively farmed land with sown wildflower fallows hosted higher richness and abundance than extensively used grassland. In AT, in contrast, higher species richness and abundance occurred in extensively used grassland than in formerly intensively farmed land with wildflower strips; here, overall increased floral resource abundance on ecologically improved sites seemed to have less influence, and flower species diversity, the quality of floral resources or any combination of flower properties, may have been more important than just its quantity as assessed by flower‐colour abundance. In conclusion, we emphasise the relevance of regional habitat heterogeneity to wild bees and the opportunities by ecological improvement of intensively farmed land. Conservation strategies should be tailored to regional landscape contexts, prioritising extensive grassland protection in Austria and targeted wildflower fallow establishment in Luxembourg.
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BibTeX
@article{lanner2026wild,
title = {{Wild Bee Conservation: Habitat Heterogeneity and Ecological Improvement in Agricultural Land With Open Grassland}},
author = {Julia Lanner and Pauline Bühler and Loïc Hellers and Timotheus Kopf and Alexander Weigand and Birgit C. Schlick‐Steiner and Florian M. Steiner},
journal = {Ecology and evolution},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74514},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13675122},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Wild Bee Conservation: Habitat Heterogeneity and Ecological Improvement in Agricultural Land With Open Grassland
AU - Julia Lanner
AU - Pauline Bühler
AU - Loïc Hellers
AU - Timotheus Kopf
AU - Alexander Weigand
AU - Birgit C. Schlick‐Steiner
AU - Florian M. Steiner
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Ecology and evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74514
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13675122
AB - Wild bee populations are declining due to habitat loss and degradation. Flower‐rich heterogenous grasslands have the potential to compensate for the loss and provide valuable habitat for wild bees. To investigate the effects of different levels of habitat heterogeneity and of ecological habitat improvement to increase foraging resources on wild bee communities, we comparatively studied two Central European grassland types in Austria (AT) and Luxembourg (LU) using pan traps. We collected and identified > 5000 individuals representing considerable fractions of wild bee fauna of these countries and characterised habitat heterogeneity (number of habitat elements, ecotone lengths) using GIS data and flower‐colour abundance (white, yellow, blue) using drone imaging. Our findings suggest that macro‐scale heterogeneity alone may not drive wild bee assemblages in LU, pointing to the potential overriding importance of unmeasured microhabitat variables, such as nesting substrates and taxonomic floral composition. In AT, however, wild bee abundance increased with habitat heterogeneity as measured by the length of ecotones with trees and bushes. Ecological improvement of habitat was important in LU, in that formerly intensively farmed land with sown wildflower fallows hosted higher richness and abundance than extensively used grassland. In AT, in contrast, higher species richness and abundance occurred in extensively used grassland than in formerly intensively farmed land with wildflower strips; here, overall increased floral resource abundance on ecologically improved sites seemed to have less influence, and flower species diversity, the quality of floral resources or any combination of flower properties, may have been more important than just its quantity as assessed by flower‐colour abundance. In conclusion, we emphasise the relevance of regional habitat heterogeneity to wild bees and the opportunities by ecological improvement of intensively farmed land. Conservation strategies should be tailored to regional landscape contexts, prioritising extensive grassland protection in Austria and targeted wildflower fallow establishment in Luxembourg.
SN - 2045-7758
ER -