Sandpits provide critical refuge for bees and wasps
2020-12-07
In this study, the community structure of bees and wasps (Hymenoptera:Apocrita) in Central European sandpits was investigated
The bees and wasps demonstrated an exceptional ability to colonize the newly emerging sand quarrying areas, and to survive in them unless these were quarried as intensively as to not allow the development of any early successional vegetation. Both active and closed sandpits were found to serve as important regional refuges for the persistence of many rare species. In total, 221 species were detected, 53 of those were red-listed, with two species thought to be regionally extinct.