College of Arts & Sciences

Zachary Smith

College of Arts & Sciences Environmental Science

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dane Ward Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science

Meghan Barrett Co-Mentor

Microhabitat and introduced species’ effects on native bee community structure in Cienfuegos, Cuba

Local ecosystems are supported by specific species interactions that can be altered by introducing new species. Particularly, the unique endemic community of bees in Cienfuegos, Cuba may be altered by the introduction of the eusocial stingless bee, Melipona beecheii beecheii, as a part of a new university meliponiculture program. Collecting and surveying bees using insect nets and bee bowls provides insight into current community structure by gathering different genera across three variable microhabitats. Over a period of six days, these methods yielded a total of 63 bees and showed that five genera of bees were living on or near the campus. Lasioglossum sweat bees were the most abundant genera collected, accounting for 42.86% of the survey population. The locations and abundance of the genera surveyed suggest that the introduction of M. beecheii would not significantly alter the structure of the current bee community. In addition, data suggests that microhabitat variables may affect the bee communities across sites.