Bees feeling the burn.

Abstract

Fire is a major form of environmental disturbance, and in recent years, due to anthropogenic climate change and anthropogenic land management, we are seeing increases in the frequency and intensity of fires. With bees being an important, diverse group of pollinators that is facing declines globally, understanding how they respond to fires is critical. Here, we conduct a literature review to understand what is known from the literature on how bees respond to fire, and how such responses to fire can vary depending on species life-history traits and aspects of fire regimes. Our literature review yielded 148 studies from 140 publications. Bee responses to fire were extremely variable, with no consistent pattern in abundance or species richness increasing, decreasing, or showing no significant change under fire. Different families and taxa responded differently and to different aspects of fire regimes. Generally, regarding taxonomic vulnerability, andrenids and colletids were vulnerable to fire, whereas halictids responded favourably to fire. In terms of guild, ground-nesting generalists responded favourably to fire, whereas cavity-nesting specialists were most vulnerable to fire. We revealed major gaps in research in the Southern Hemisphere and in tropical landscapes dominated by flowering trees, with most studies conducted in pine-forested, fire-prone landscapes in the Northern Hemisphere. Additionally, only a few studies used manipulative experiments, or have considered how to maximise bee recovery after fires. Overall, fire is an important disturbance affecting bee communities, and while some species may benefit from certain fire regimes, other species are vulnerable, and management to preserve such species under predictions of increasingly frequent and severe fires is required.