Data from: Prevalence and abundance of bees visiting major conventionally-managed agricultural crops in Brazil

This study brings together data from a series of local pollinator surveys
undertaken in major conventionally-managed agricultural crops in Brazil to
determine the presence and abundance of bees visiting flowers within crops
compared with adjacent off-crop habitats. Surveys were undertaken within
crops and in adjacent off-crop areas using broadly the same methodology in
flowering soybean, drybean, maize, citrus, coffee, rice, and cotton and in
sugarcane immediately harvest. The bee species present were assessed twice
per day at three times during crop flowering (post-harvest for
sugar-cane). Pan traps were used to collect species present within the
crop and off-crop twice per day. Drybeans, citrus, and coffee flowers
displayed a consistent medium to high abundance of honey bees based on
effort-adjusted transect and spot counts. In contrast, fields with
flowering soybeans and cotton showed in-crop lower abundance and rice,
corn, and harvested sugar cane showed consistently low numbers or no honey
bees. In almost all cases honey bees were the most prevalent and abundant
flower visitors within the studied crops. Where non-Apis bees were
observed they often belong to the Meliponini (primarily Trigona) or the
genera Bombus or Xylocopa. The off-crop assessments of species presence
using pan traps showed a far wider diversity of species with greater
proportional representation of solitary bee species. Overall, whilst honey
bees accounted for the majority of observed bees visiting flowers in the
agricultural fields, the off-crop habitat contained a greater abundance
and diversity of non-Apis bee populations.