Data from: European bee diversity: Taxonomic and phylogenetic patterns

Aim Wild bees still face striking shortfalls in knowledge of biodiversity
in key regions of the world. This includes Europe, where despite a long
tradition of data gathering, the continental scale distribution patterns
of wild bees have not been systematically analysed to date. This study
aims to characterise large-scale biodiversity patterns to: (i) understand
spatial-temporal heterogeneity in large-scale databases, (ii) locate
genuine diversity hotspots and their relationship with biogeographical
patterns or habitats of interests, and (iii) identify understudied species
and areas to further design conservation actions for most at risk species
in key regions. Location Europe Taxon Bees Methods We present a
continental and standardised study of bee taxonomic and phylogenetic
diversity patterns in Europe, using a large compilation of occurrence
records of nearly three million validated occurrence records for 1,515
wild bee species. Results Southern and eastern Europe suffer from the
largest gaps in data availability while northern and western regions
benefit from better historical coverage. Our models show that higher wild
bee diversity in Europe is hosted in xeric, warm areas, as highlighted by
a clear latitudinal gradient. However, phylogenetic diversity is predicted
to be more homogenous across Europe than taxonomic diversity, suggesting
that policies and strategies targeted to protect species richness may
differ from those targeting greater phylogenetic diversity. Main
conclusions This study represents a significant advance in the
characterisation of wild bee distribution patterns across Europe and is an
important stepping stone towards the design of more targeted survey
efforts and conservation actions of this key group of pollinators. This,
in turn, will provide the data necessary to improve the spatiotemporal
coverage in a context of ongoing and future Europe-wide monitoring
schemes, to ultimately develop cost-effective, coordinated and
evidence-based conservation actions and tailored habitat management
actions that can be implemented on a smaller scale.