After countless hours of capturing and identifying the bees that visit woody plants, Drs. Bernadette Mach and Daniel Potter have published their research!

Three people netting bees around a tree.
Using sweep nets to sample bees on woody plants in an urban area.
A box full of pinned bees.
A selection of the bees caught on one type of woody plant.

Before starting their research, Drs. Mach and Potter saw that many lists of recommended plants for pollinators were not backed with scientific evidence, especially for urban woody plants (i.e. trees and shrubs).

They therefore set out to document the numbers and types of bees that visited various species of woody plants in urban areas around Kentucky. They found that:

  1. Different woody plant attract different types and numbers of bee species
  2. The shape of the flowers mattered to bees
  3. Both native and non-native plant could attract a diverse community of bees.

Researchers: Dr. Dan Potter, and his (now graduated) doctoral student, Dr. Bernadette Mach

State: KY

Download List of Plants for Bees. Opens in a new window.
Link to Abstract and Research Article of Mach and Potter 2018 paper
Link to study guide, podcast, webcast, presentation slides