Spatiotemporal diversity of wild bee communities (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in grassland ecosystems in semi-arid climate of North Africa (Algeria)

ABSTRACT

In order to improve our knowledge on the biodiversity of wild bee communities in Algerian grasslands, two stations (El-Kouif and Gourigueur) belonging to Tebessa region were chosen. The current study provides data on the diversity and the structure of this taxonomic group in a semi-arid steppe in Northeastern Algeria. Wild bee alpha and beta diversity were investigated through the utilisation of diverse parameters such as species richness, occurrence, diversity indices, rarefaction curves, similarity indices. In total, 411 individuals of 14 genera and 46 species were collected. The most abundant species was Eucera nigrilabris (Apidae) with 69 individuals (16.79% of the total). The collected species were dominated by common taxa (17 species, 36.95% of the total). The GLM tests showed that the temporal variations of the abundance values (N) and the species richness (S) of wild bees were statistically significant. Overall, the most visited plant species was Eruca vesicaria (Brassicaceae) (N = 168, S = 24). Two types of species were distinguished in the present study, species foraged a wide range of plant and species foraged only one plant species. The wild bee communities showed high taxonomic diversity in grasslands situated in semi-arid steppe.

KEYWORDS:

• Biodiversity
• semi-arid grasslands
• wild bees
• Tebessa
• floral choice

Acknowledgments

We thank Ramdane Abdelkrim for his help during field work. Soraya Hioun and Amale Macheroum from Echahid Cheikh Larbi Tebessi University for the identification of the listed plants. Amale Macheroum for the conception of the map. The study did not receive any funding sources.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

NB conceived the study. NB, MG and SB carried out fieldwork and collected the samples. CA analysed data. NB and CA led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.