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Abstract: Wild bees comprise a diverse group of pollinators essential to healthy ecosystems and crop pollination. Despite their importance, the way in which many driving factors affect specific bees or pollinators in specific regions remains unknown. Northern New England is one such place lacking detailed study. Accordingly, we collected bees from three different landscape types for three consecutive years in northern New England. Annual, seasonal and landscape factor affects were examined. We found that season and landscape type significantly influenced the bee community. Bee abundance and species richness were highest during the warmer seasons. At the landscape scale, overall bee abundance and species richness were greatest in the organic farm landscapes and lowest in the meadow landscapes. We also examined the bee community across multiple taxonomic levels: guild, family and species. Wild bee abundance varied significantly depending on the taxonomic level analyzed. Within genera, certain species had significantly higher abundances in meadow type landscapes, whereas other species had higher abundances in the organic or the conventional farm type landscapes. These results support the need for more regionally and taxonomically specific studies on wild bees, their habitat requirements and the influence of environmental factors across agricultural and unmanaged landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many wild bee species are in global decline, yet much is still unknown about their diversity and contemporary distributions. National parks and forests offer unique areas of refuge important for the conservation of rare and declining species populations. Here we present the results of the first biodiversity survey of the bee fauna in the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF). More than a thousand specimens were collected from pan and sweep samples representing 137 species. Three species were recorded for the first time in New England and an additional seven species were documented for the first time in the state of New Hampshire. Four introduced species were also observed in the specimens collected. A checklist of the species found in the WMNF, as well as those found previously in Strafford County, NH, is included with new state records and introduced species noted as well as a map of collecting locations. Of particular interest was the relatively high abundance of Bombus terricola Kirby 1837 found in many of the higher elevation collection sites and the single specimen documented of Bombus fervidus (Fabricius 1798). Both of these bumble bee species are known to have declining populations in the northeast and are categorized as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]