Pollinators contribute to the establishment of perennial native forages, but little is known about the effect of grazing practices on pollinator abundance and diversity in livestock pasture ecosystems. Grazing reduces floral resources available to bees and other insects, and as a result, may influence their communities. The main objective of this study was to examine the impact of sheep grazing on bees and other non-bee insects in livestock pasture established with seed mixes of native forb/legume/grass and warm season grasses. Each pasture was divided into two halves (in a split-plot design) using an electric fence in which one plot was grazed and the other plot was non-grazed. Blue vane traps and a pair of yellow and blue pan traps were used for sampling bees and non-bee insects. A diverse array of bees (59 species) and non-bee insects (at least 93 species) were found in the livestock pastures. The abundance, diversity, and evenness of bee and non-bee communities were greater in non-grazed plots as compared to grazed plots. However, species richness, as measured by rates of species accumulation relative to sampling effort, was not different among treatments. Results show that a diverse community of bees and non-bee insects may be found in livestock pasture systems, but reduction in bee and non-bee insect diversity in grazed areas highlight the importance of strategic pasture management to support persistence of native forages and sufficient floral resources for pollinators at relevant scales.

中文翻译：

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羊放牧影响牲畜牧场中野生蜜蜂和其他昆虫的丰度、多样性和群落组成

传粉媒介有助于建立多年生本土牧草，但人们对放牧做法对牲畜牧场生态系统中传粉媒介丰度和多样性的影响知之甚少。放牧减少了蜜蜂和其他昆虫可用的花卉资源，因此可能会影响它们的群落。本研究的主要目的是研究在用本地杂草/豆科植物/草和暖季草的种子混合物建立的牲畜牧场中，羊放牧对蜜蜂和其他非蜜蜂昆虫的影响。每个牧场都使用电围栏分为两半（采用裂区设计），其中一个地块放牧，另一块地块不放牧。蓝色叶片诱捕器和一对黄色和蓝色盘式诱捕器用于对蜜蜂和非蜜蜂昆虫进行采样。在牲畜牧场中发现了多种蜜蜂（59 种）和非蜂昆虫（至少 93 种）。与放牧地相比，非放牧地的蜜蜂和非蜜蜂群落的丰度、多样性和均匀度更高。然而，物种丰富度（以物种积累率相对于采样工作量来衡量）在处理之间没有差异。结果表明，牲畜牧场系统中可能存在多样化的蜜蜂和非蜜蜂昆虫群落，但放牧地区蜜蜂和非蜜蜂昆虫多样性的减少凸显了战略性牧场管理对于支持本地牧草持久存在和充足花卉的重要性。相关规模的授粉媒介资源。