Long‐term (1979–2019) dynamics of protected orchid bees in Panama

Abstract

Abstract Plants and pollinators are linked but their dynamics are scarcely known. Chemical monitoring of male “orchid bees” at two sites revealed 75% of species were stable or increasing. Forest bees of 33 species, with live sighting at Pipeline Road (PR), and trapping on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), included 132,000 individuals. No species or community changes occurred in strong El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate events, which lasted 145 total months during more than 70 bee generations. Parasite and host bees fluctuated in unison. A few very common species, adapted to relatively disturbed habitat, diminished over time at PR, while sightings and traps revealed stable abundance ranks in Euglossa 40 years on BCI. Bee abundance and biomass were stable but 50% of species had few records. Orchid bees appear more stable in older forest, they were evidently insulated from ENSO disturbance, and probably benefit from the increasing abundance of flowering lianas and vines.

Keywords

• Barro Colorado Island
• El Niño
• ENSO
• euglossines
• live sighting
• monitoring