Are We Providing Preferred Floral Resources for Bees in Our Neighborhoods? : Assessing the Relationship Between Small Scale Vegetation Metrics and Bee Presence in SE Portland

Bee pollinators can thrive in highly urbanized environments if their preferred floral resources and habitat types are available. Enhanced pollinator habitats are being created globally, with a large local effort in Portland, Oregon. This project determined if we were providing the most preferred floral resources at enhanced pollinator sites for bees, if floral resources were available throughout the season, and if differences in dietary preferences between native and honey bees would allow for the identification of native bee floral resources in South East Portland. Bee pollinators were monitored from June to August at three enhanced pollinator sites in South East Portland, Oregon. A total of 566 individual bees were observed, tiny dark bees and bumblebees composed the large majority of the urban bee composition. Vegetation metrics and bee presence were correlated using a Generalized Linear Mixed Model and significant variables that predicted bee presence included Solidago canadenisis (p-value 0.0024), density of floral resources (p-value Penstemon species and native bee preferred Solidago canadenisis. Recommendations for managing enhanced pollinator sites from this work included planting more late season plants, specific pollinator plant lists for native bees and honey bees and scheduling regular site care and watering at enhanced sites