Bee populations and habitat survey in southwest Louisiana grasslands

Publication Date

2019-09-26

Start Date

2015

End Date

2017

Allain, L.K., 2019, Bee populations and habitat survey in southwest Louisiana grasslands: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P91LIQ0T.

Type: Related Primary Publication

Among insect groups, interest in pollinators has exploded in the last several years. This interest is reflected by the Presidential Memorandum of June 2014 directing federal agencies to support research on pollinator status and distribution. In the same year, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would conduct a status review of the Monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act. Despite this interest, very few systematic studies of insects have been conducted in Louisiana, and publications with data from the state often exclude the southwest portion (Lambremont, 1954; Ross and Lambremont, 1963; Opler and Malikup; 1998). Only two studies of bees have been conducted in Louisiana and they were restricted to longleaf pine savannas (Bartholomew and Prowell, 2006) and a study by Bossart (pers. comm.) focused on the East Gulf Coastal Plain. This lack of information on the status of bees inhibits conservation efforts. The purpose of this work is to advance understanding of bee communities in the endangered coastal prairie of southwestern Louisiana.

• USGS Data Release Products
• USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center