Maj Rundlöf gave us an update on the field work in the Swedish case study areas following the response of ground nesting bees and other pollinators to habitat restoration in sand steppe.
Maj Rundlöf, member of the ULUND team, is responsible for the study system setup and field work coordination. She participated in the beginning of the first round of pollinator and plant surveys. The remaining RestPoll field work in Sweden is done by Georg Andersson and Cecilia Kardum Hjort, and two external bee experts.
Survey rounds
The ULUND team and national bee experts have just completed the second survey round (of five in total) of the restored and control areas and the Living Lab (LL) site. During the first round, they mostly recorded solitary ground nesting bees, but also some bumble bee queens and hoverflies.
Transect walks
Transect walks are one of the methods used during the survey rounds. A transect walk is a standardized method where you walk slowly along a fixed route, surveying pollinators and flowers within a predefined area.
During the transect walks females and males of the solitary ground nesting bee species Andrena vaga and Colletes cunicularius were found, both feeding their larvae Salix pollen. At the LL site also male Anthophora plumipes were encountered, a species that started to increase in the case study area Skåne about 20 years ago.
Timed free searches
Transect walks are great for collecting standardized pollinator (and flower) data, but they are limited to a specific area. Therefore, the bee experts complemented the transect walks with timed free searches in the survey areas to get more complete bee species lists. Timed free searches allow the bee experts to search the entire survey area (which is larger than the transect area) in a somewhat structured way and create a species list for the bigger survey area.
During these searches, the bee experts also have a confirmed record of the critically endangered Andrena morawitzi that has not been recorded nationally for five years and observations of both female and male Andrena bimaculata – a species nationally red listed as vulnerable.
It is a positive sign that these two species are observed in the areas. It means that they are still there, and it is not too late to improve (restore) the habitat so that the species under threat can live on!
Behind the scenes
Check out the photos and videos below to get an impression of the two completed survey rounds.
Videos made by Rundlöf
What’s next?
The remaining three survey rounds will follow in June, July, and August, respectively. Now the ULUND team is busy with the RestPoll botanical survey.
