The Intersection of Bee and Flower Sexes: Pollen Availability Shapes Sex-Specific Bee Foraging Associations in Sunflower

We evaluated whether female or male bees were more abundant on sunflowers, whether female bees were more abundant on pollen-fertile or pollen-sterile sunflower cultivars, and whether the bee community differed between pollen-fertile and pollen-sterile sunflower cultivars. We further evaluated whether bee communities were shaped by local floral resources and landscape composition. We sampled bees visiting sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) from 14 farms in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts between 25 July to 27 September 2019, typically making two sampling visits to a farm. We also measured floral resource diversity and abundance at the farms, and categorized the landscape types at 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, and 2500 m radii around the farms using GIS data. All sampled bees were identified to species or species complex. An associated manuscript with this title and these authors is being submitted for publication.