Polinatör Arı Komünitesi Fonksiyonel Karakter Yapısının Bir Arazi Kullanım Gradiyentindeki Değişimi

Abstract

Land use is the shaping of the earth by humans according to their own desires. The impact of this action on habitats and biological communities can vary depending on the intensity and scale of the action. The effect of the increasing human population on their surroundings is also increasing over time. Therefore, understanding how changes in land use affect living communities is important to protect ourselves, who depend on the ecosystem services they provide, as well as many other organisms in the world. And probably one of the most important ecosystem services for us and many other living things on earth is pollination. It is a known fact that most flowering plants on earth require animals, especially bees, for pollination. The reason why bees are so valuable in nature is due to their functional traits, such as their evolutionary developed behaviors, morphological and physiological characteristics. Functional traits are important factors that affect the success of living beings in harmony with their environments, their reproductive abilities, and their survival abilities. Despite all this knowledge, studies on the effects of land use change on bee communities are insufficient. There is no detailed study on functional traits in this regard. In this thesis, the effect of land use on bee communities in Çaycuma district in the western Black Sea region was examined in terms of functional traits. Intertegular distance, pollen preference, nesting preference and sociality functional traits are chosen for this study. The analysis revealed how the bee community in the region changed in terms of functional traits and taxonomy with the increasing intensity of land use. The rural areas where land use intensity is moderate have a higher diversity in terms of species richness and abundance compared to other regions (59 taxa, 513 individuals). Although the community located in the city where land use is high is represented by fewer individuals (40 taxa, 140 individuals), it has a higher diversity according to functional diversity indices. The data obtained from the study will be a pioneer in understanding the human impact on bees, and a resource for future scientific studies and conservation efforts.