Bee species diversity and nesting sites in cultivated savannah, northern Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Bees play key roles in savannah ecosystems but face myriad threats. A combination of flower sweep netting and visual observations was used to determine bee-species diversity and preferred nesting sites in five villages in Nyamakate communal area, northern Zimbabwe. Almost 2000 bees were collected comprising two bee families and five species with diversity of Shannon-Weiner index (H’) = 0.45 (0.19). Apis mellifera scutellata was widely distributed and the dominant bee species; it has a wide choice of nesting sites and high adaptation ability. Effective conservation of nesting habitats such as forest, woody vegetation, and riverine water sources is required to maintain bee-species diversity in an agro-based savannah ecosystem.

KEYWORDS:

• Bees
• Apis mellifera
• diversity
• savannah
• agro-ecosystem

Acknowledgments

We thank L. Katurura, M. Gomwe, F. Hlongwane, A. Malunga and T.T.C Nyatanga for assistance in fieldwork and R. Gondo and N. R. Moyo for insightful comments. We are grateful to Nyamakate communal area village heads who permitted us to conduct the study within their communities.

Disclosure statement

Authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.