Bumblebee abundance and richness along disused railway lines: the impact of track morphology

摘要: Abstract Linear features are important landscape elements, providing a range of ecosystem services including pollination to adjacent crops and wild plants. Whilst many aspects of linear features have been shown to impact on resource use by wild pollinators, our principal aim was to explore the impact of topographical variation on the abundance and richness of bumblebee (Bombus) species. Disused railway lines, repurposed as recreational tracks, were used to explore the impact of topography using standardised bee transects through Cuttings (track bed below the surrounding landscape), Flats (track bed at the same level as the surrounding landscape), and Embankments (track bed above the surrounding landscape) (15 each) in the East Midlands of the UK during August 2012. We also recorded general site characteristics including Ordnance Survey grid references, track orientation, and …