Wetland bees in the spotlight

Although Pollinator Week just ended, bees in Arkansas are still going strong, and so is an ambitious research project documenting them, the University of Arkansas’s Research Frontiers blog reports. TWS member Phillip Stephenson, a master’s student at the University of Arkansas, is in the middle of his second summer collecting bees from emergent wetlands in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. The study will assess the species richness and abundance of wetland bees, as well as their importance for pollinating native plants and nearby crops. The findings could help wetland managers make informed decisions and secure conservation easements, Stephenson told Research Frontiers.