Floral traits of animal-pollinated Sevilleta plant species

Concern about pollinator populations is widespread, with bees documented to be in decline due to factors including habitat loss, disease, and pesticides. In addition, climate change may be an important cause of bee population losses, but few studies have examined bee abundance relationships with climate variables. Importantly, bees may respond directly to climate or may exhibit indirect responses to climate via changes in plant phenology or community composition. This study collected floral trait data to complement the Sevilleta LTER pollinator monitoring, plant phenology, and plant biomass datasets, with the aim of examining whether floral resource availability mediates bee responses to climate. For 71 common, animal-pollinated flowering plant species, we measured floral traits relevant to pollination in June–October 2018 and April–August 2019 within sites representing four ecosystem types at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge: Plains grassland, Chihuahuan Desert grassland, Chihuahuan Desert shrubland, and piñon-juniper woodland. On a minimum of 5 individuals per plant species, we recorded the total number of open flowers and the corolla width of flowers, along with plant height and vegetative cover. These data may be used in combination with the Sevilleta LTER pollinator monitoring, phenology, and biomass datasets to examine how bee and floral resource abundance, diversity, and phenology vary across years and whether these changes correspond with one another, as well as to consider relationships among climate, floral resource abundance/diversity, and bee abundance/diversity.