Bee diversity and abundance during peach bloom in South Carolina, United States

Peach (Prunus persica [L.] Batsch) is an important specialty fruit crop in
the United States. Peach is self-compatible, but bee pollination enhances
fruit sets and diverse populations improve pollination efficiency.
However, the bee diversity and abundance in peach orchards in South
Carolina are unknown. To understand this, we sampled bees during peach
tree bloom at two locations in South Carolina- the Clemson University
Musser Fruit Research Center (MFRC) and a peach farm in Ridge Spring,
South Carolina. Overall, a total of 651 bees were collected from peach
orchards, of which Bombus (37%) and Apis (32%) were the most dominant
genera, followed by Eucera (14%), Andrena (8%) and Habropoda (5%).
Diversity indices indicate higher species richness and diversity at the
Ridge Spring farm than at MFRC. Dominant species at the MFRC were Apis
mellifera (36.77%), Bombus bimaculatus (29.1%), B. griseocolis (12%) and
Eucera hamata (8%). In contrast, the Ridge Spring farm was dominated by A.
mellifera (24.17%), Habropoda laboriosa (12%), Andrena barbara (12%), E.
atriventris (11.72%) and B. bimaculatus (11.35%). In comparing the
effectiveness of sampling methods, blue vane traps (BVTs) captured more
bees than aerial sweep netting. Furthermore, BVTs predominantly captured
larger-sized bees, while smaller-sized bees were more frequently collected
using sweep netting. Throughout peach bloom, differences in bee abundance
were observed over time as well. Our study sheds light on the bee
diversity and abundance in South Carolina peach orchards, revealing
variations between locations. This knowledge of bee diversity and
abundance will provide baseline information on bee communities in peach
orchards and will help develop suitable pollinator conservation programs.