A dataset of occurrence of wild bees and their interaction with foraging plants along a livestock grazing gradient of northern Tanzania

Julius V Lasway; Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter; Rudolf Mremi; Neema R Kinabo; John J Sanya; Oliver C Nyakunga; Emanuel H Martin; Connal Eardley; Alain Pauly; Marcell K Peters; Henry K Njovu

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2023.109181

A dataset of occurrence of wild bees and their interaction with foraging plants along a livestock grazing gradient of northern Tanzania

Data Brief. 2023 Apr 24:48:109181. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109181. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
² Department of Wildlife Management, College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, 214 Mweka Chini HM 25216 Kibosho Mashariki, Moshi, Tanzania.
³ Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
⁴ Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), O.D. Taxonomy & Phylogeny, Rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.
⁵ School for Field Studies: Center for Wildlife Management Studies, P.O. Box 314, Karatu, Tanzania.

Abstract

A dataset describing the occurrence of wild bees and their interaction with forage plants along livestock grazing gradient is critical in understanding bee-plant interaction networks and in developing conservation plans to ensure ecosystem services in human-modified landscapes. Despite this need, bee-plant datasets are scarce in Africa, and Tanzania is no exception. Therefore, in this article, we present a dataset of wild bee species richness, occurrence, and distribution collected across sites with different levels of livestock grazing intensity and forage resources thereby. The data presented in this paper supports a research article by Lasway et al., 2022 describing the effects of grazing intensity on East African bee assemblages. The paper presents primary data on bee species, collection method, date of collection, bee family, identifier, plant forage resource, forage plant life form, forage plant family, location (GPS coordinates), grazing intensity category, mean annual temperature (°C), and elevation (m asl). The data were collected intermittently between August 2018 and March 2020 from 24 study sites distributed along three levels of livestock grazing intensity with eight replicates for each: low, moderate, and high livestock grazing intensity. In each study site, two 50 × 50 m study plots were set from which bees and floral resources were sampled and quantified. The two plots were placed in a way to capture the overall structural heterogeneity of the respective habitat by placing the two plots in contrasting microhabitats where possible. For example, in moderately livestock-grazed habitats, plots were placed on sites with and without tree or shrub cover to ensure representativeness. This paper presents a dataset comprising 2,691 bee individuals from 183 species representing 55 genera of the five bee families: Halictidae (74), Apidae (63), Megachilidae (40), Andrenidae (5), and Colletidae (1). In addition, the dataset comprises 112 species of flowering plants that were identified as potential forage resources for bees. This paper supplements rare but critical data on bee pollinators in Northern Tanzania and advances our knowledge of the potential drivers of bee-pollinator whose populations diversity are declining globally. The dataset will also promote collaborations among researchers who would wish to combine and extend their data for further analysis to gain a broader understanding of the phenomenon on a larger spatial scale.

Keywords: Bee-plant interaction network; Hand net; Livestock grazing intensity; Pan trap; Plant forage resource; Species richness; Standardized random walk.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.21550545.v3