Friday, August 22, 2025
DENTON (UNT), Texas 鈥� Most Texans picture honey bees or bumble bees when they think of pollinators, but the majority of the state鈥檚 native bees are solitary insects that make their homes underground 鈥� and new research from the shows those underground homes depend heavily on soil conditions.
鈥淚n Texas, we have at least 1,300 native species, and most of them nest underground,鈥� said , assistant professor of in UNT鈥檚 . 鈥淭hey鈥檙e solitary species that mostly dig out these nests in the soil.鈥�
Most Texas native bees, like the sweat bee, use their mandibles to dig in the ground.
Lichtenberg and Shannon Collins (鈥�23 M.S.) led a study to better understand the habitat needs of these ground-nesting bees. The project, which took place on ranches owned by the Dixon Water Foundation, combined Collins鈥� interests in soil science and pollinators.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been relatively little research on ground-nesting bee soil habitat, so I thought 鈥榳hy not bridge that gap,鈥欌�� Collins said.
Over two years, the team collected bees and soil samples across the seasons. They used tools like bee bowls 鈥� traps designed to mimic flowers 鈥� and hand nets to capture bees, while soil cores helped them extract and study the underground environment.
鈥淭o measure soil texture, Shannon worked with Reid Ferring from the geography and environment department,鈥� Lichtenberg said. 鈥淔or identifying bee species, we received support from Karen Wright, who was the curator at the Texas A&M Insect Collection at the time. We鈥檙e really thankful for our partners on this project.鈥�
Their findings, recently published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, revealed that soil texture 鈥� not surface factors like floral variety 鈥� was the most influential factor in determining where native bees chose to nest.
鈥淲e have a lot of clay soil in North Texas, and we found that the proportion of sand made a big difference,鈥� Collins said. 鈥淏ees seem to prefer a balance 鈥� enough clay for structure, but enough sand to make digging easier.鈥�
Shannon Collins, as a UNT student in Elinor Lichtenberg's lab, used a microscope to identify the sampled bees
Lichtenberg鈥檚 lab is now expanding the research to study how different grazing management strategies could impact both vegetation and pollinators.
鈥淭his previous study looked at one grazing management style,鈥� Lichtenberg said. 鈥淣ext, we want to explore how varying approaches could impact bee populations.鈥�
Collins, now with The Phoenix Conservancy in Washington State, continues restoration work in endangered prairie ecosystems 鈥� work she said was inspired by this research.
鈥淢y work on the ground-nesting bee study is what got me interested in how different disturbances impact ecological communities,鈥� Collins said.
To help native bees, Collins recommends planting native flowers and, when possible, leaving some bare patches of healthy soil for nesting. Even without a garden, she said there are ways to get involved.
鈥淧eople can volunteer with pollinator organizations, collect data or take photos of bees. iNaturalist is a great place to start because you can upload what pollinators you see to help track what鈥檚 in your area,鈥� Collins said. 鈥淥ne of our biggest challenges is simply not having enough data 鈥� and anyone can help with that.鈥�
From 鈥� Researcher