Crop pollination by animals is a crucial ecosystem service that enhances
the yield and the quality of 75 % of major food crops worldwide. Wild bees
play a significant role in this process as they are diverse and abundant
visitors to crops and are known for their efficiency. However, in many
parts of the world, including Morocco, there is no available commented
list of wild bee species responsible for crop pollination. Here, we
investigated the presence of wild bees associated with agricultural
landscapes and described key trait characteristics of these bee species.
Pollinator communities were sampled by sweep net and pan trapping across a
total of 263 fields containing nine flowering main crops in 2018-2019. Key
crop-pollinating species were identified as those species which made up 5%
or more of the individuals visiting the flowers of each crop.
Out of the 359 pollinator species occurring in agroecosystems, 156 were
crop-associated bee species and only 26 bee species were classified as key
crop-pollinating species. The bee communities observed in the crops were
predominantly composed of widespread, solitary, pollen generalist,
ground-nesting bees with an extended flight season. Our findings provide
essential baseline data on crop pollinators which can contribute to the
enhancement of the regional understanding of wild bee diversity and
functional traits associated with crop pollination. Moreover, this
information can facilitate the implementation of conservation strategies
to improve wild-bee habitats within agricultural landscapes. # Supplemental data for: Dominant wild pollinators of Moroccan crops are
soil nesting and pollen generalist bees Dataset DOI:
[10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkmgj](
doi.org) ##
Description of the data and file structure The Supporting Information
includes supplementary details on the study design, including the
geographical framework, study sites, crop selection, and pollinator
surveys (adapted from El Abdouni et al., 2022). It also presents the
dominance of key crop-visiting bee species across different agroecosystems
and crops, as well as the ratio of each species’ relative abundance on
focal crops compared to their abundance outside the crops. Bees outside
the crops include all individuals collected along transects on other
flowering plants (crops and wild plants) as well as those captured using
pan traps. In addition, it provides field occupancy values for each KCVBS
recorded across the four studied regions. ### Files and variables ####
File: Supporting_Information.pdf **Description:** **Supplementary
methods** (from (El Abdouni et al., 2022)**):** * **Geographical
Framework, Sites, and Crop Selection** * **Surveys of Pollinator
Communities** **FAP (Farming with Alternative Pollinators):** An
agricultural management approach in which the main crop is planted in the
central part of the field, while additional flowering plants (Marketable
Habitat Enhancement Plants, MHEP) are planted at the field edges to
enhance pollinator diversity and abundance. **Transect walks** are a
standardized method for surveying pollinator communities, in which
observers systematically walk along fixed paths (transects) within a field
or orchard and record all insects visiting flowers within a defined
distance and time period. This method allows for the assessment of
pollinator abundance, diversity, and flower visitation patterns across
different crops and management practices. **Trapping with colored pan
traps** is a complementary sampling method in which shallow colored bowls
(typically yellow, white, and blue) are filled with soapy water and placed
in the field to passively capture visiting insects, including bees. This
method helps to sample species that may be underrepresented in transect
walks, although it may favour certain bee groups (e.g., small
ground-nesting species) and can influence the taxonomic representation of
the collected dataset. **Supplimentary tables:** * **Table S1**. The
dominance of key crop-pollinating bee species by each agroecosystem (crops
in each region). **Total number of bees:** The total number of individual
bees recorded in each crop in each region. **Number of main crop
pollinators:** Total number of bees visiting the flowers of the main crop
per orchard and region. **Dominance:** Proportion of individual bees
observed visiting the flowers of the studied crops relative to the total
number of bees recorded in a given orchard and region. **Mean dominance:**
The average dominance of bees observed visiting the flowers of the studied
crops. **S.E.** : Standard error of the mean dominance. * **Table S 2:**
Ratio between the relative abundance of key crop-pollinating bee species
on the crop and their relative abundance outside the crop (%). Bees
outside the crop means all bees collected by transects on other plants
(crops and wildflowers) and by pan traps. **Key crop-pollinating bee
species (KCBS) : **including dominant bee species
observed visiting the flowers of the studied crops. To identify the KCPBS,
we considered only individuals collected from crop flowers during the
flowering period. Following Kleijn *et al*. (2015), we defined KCPBS as
the most abundant species, representing ≥ 5% of the total abundance of
individuals collected per crop in each region (Figure 2). This threshold
ensures that only the most frequent visitors are included, thereby
reducing the influence of rare or accidental species (MacLeod *et al*.,
2020; Vázquez *et al*., 2005). **Relative abundance of KCBS outside the
crop:** Proportion of key crop-pollinating bee species collected on
flowers other than the studied crop and by pan traps. **Relative abundance
of KCBS on the crop:** Proportion of key crop-pollinating bee species
visiting the flowers of the main crop (studied crops). **Ratio**: Relative
abundance of a key crop-pollinating bee species on the studied crop
divided by its relative abundance outside the crop. #### File:
Data_Dominant_wild_pollinators_of_Moroccan_crops_are_soil_nesting_and_pollen_generalist_bees.xlsx **Description:** **OCC (Occurrence)** : Indicates the frequency of a species, it typically reflects how often a species was recorded across sampling **DOM (Dominance)** : Represents the relative abundance of a species compared to the total community.