The Effects of Wildfire Burn Severity on Bee and Wasp Communities Two Decades Post-Fire

<p>While fire is a natural disturbance in many global ecosystems, anthropogenic changes are affecting fire frequency, severity, and seasonality. Disturbances like wildfire affect bee and wasp communities, but recent meta-analyses are conflicted about whether fire harms or benefits insect pollinators. We investigated the lasting effects of wildfire burn severity on wild bee communities and floral resource availability across different burn severities in two-mixed severity fires that burned >20 years ago. We found that high severity fire has positive effects on bee diversity that are associated with severity-mediated changes to the floral community. We also studied the effects of wildfire burn severity on cavity-nesting bee and wasp abundance and diversity, and nesting habitat across burn severities (high, low, unburned) in the same mixed-severity fires. We found that fire severity had no impact on cavity-nesters, but that high severity fire did increase the amount of coarse woody debris available for nesting.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S. in Biological Sciences

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Alaina K.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shannon M. Murphy
• Adrian L. Carper
• Julie A. Morris
• Anna Sher

• Bee
• Floral
• Nesting
• Wasp
• Wildfire
• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Life Sciences
• Population Biology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

English (eng)

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2430

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-3416