Data from: The importance of vertically stratified, multi-year sampling for understanding native bee assemblages in southeastern temperate deciduous forests

We sampled and compared the bee assemblages of a temperate deciduous forest (Tuskegee National Forest, Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, USA) in both canopy and understory from April-October 2021 and March-October 2022. Blue vane traps were deployed at four sites across Tuskegee National Forest with four replicates per site. Each replicate had a blue vane in the understory (1m) and in the upper canopy (20 m average). In total, we captured 1,494 bees representing 38 taxa belonging to 15 genera and 5 families (Andrenidae, Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae, and Megachilidae). Abundance varied seasonally and by year. The canopy traps produced 70% of all captures and there were almost three times as many bees in the canopy as in the understory. The four most commonly captured species (Lasioglossum bruneri, Melissodes bimaculatus, Augochlora pura, and Bombus impatiens) were present in significantly higher abundances in the canopy. We found no significant differences in species richness between the canopy and understory, but found that Simpson diversity was significantly different between strata. Interestingly, while overall and in 2021 Simpson diversity was higher in the canopy, in 2022 it was higher in the understory.