Fabel Yáñez

He/him

Education: Majoring in Environmental Studies

Mentor: Tania Kim, Ph.D.

McNair Project: Bee Diversity in Urban Farms

Native bee populations have experienced a significant decline due to anthropogenic
changes like pesticide usage, urbanization, and habitat loss. These beneficial insects are
crucial to humans given their role in food production and overall ecosystem health. As
urban farming becomes a popular practice in cities the question of how bee communities
differ in rural vs. urban landscapes needs to be answered. How does a change in
landcover affect the diversity and population of bees? 14 farms across Lawrence and
Kansas City, 7 being urban and 7 rural were the sampling sites. Samples were collected
in flowering crop rows where pollinating insects were captured with the use of a modified
hand vacuum over a 10-minute timed observation period. The data from 2 sampling trips
in June showed that bee abundance was the most collected of all pollinators followed by
beetles, flies, wasps, then butterflies. Bees were more common in urban landscapes than
rural, with bumble bees being the most common of the bee varieties followed by sweat
bees, honeybees, long-horned bees, resin bees, and lastly leaf-cutter bees. Sweat bees
were the only bee variety that were more common in the rural landscape than the urban.
Urban abundance could be a result of greater habitat and foraging potential in gardens,
parks, and other natural areas scattered within Lawrence and Kansas City. Future
recommendations include comparing July and August data to June and quantifying floral
resource abundance to the area of landscape context (urban and rural). For this purpose,
the cause of what is attracting the bees to an urban area over rural can be established.