Bees use anthropogenic habitats despite strong natural habitat preferences

Habitat loss and alteration is widely considered one of the main drivers of the current loss of pollinator diversity. Unfortunately, we still lack a comprehensive analysis of habitat importance, use and preference for major groups of pollinators. Here, we address this gap analysing a large dataset of 15,762 bee specimens (more than 400 species) across northeast USA. We found that natural habitats sustain the highest bee diversity, with many species strongly depending on such habitats. By characterizing habitat use and preference for the 45 most abundant species, we also show that many bee species can use human-altered habitats despite exhibiting strong and clear preferences for forested habitats. However, only a few species appear to do well when the habitat has been drastically modified. We conclude that although altered environments may harbor a substantial number of species, preserving natural areas is still essential to guarantee the conservation of bee biodiversity.