[Retracted] Climatic, Regional Land-Use Intensity, Landscape, and Local Variables Predicting Best the Occurrence and Distribution of Bee Community Diversity in Various Farmland Habitats in Uganda
Figure 2
Trends in blooming wild plant species richness and abundance in relationships to rainfall and maximum temperature patterns in central Uganda. Blooming plant species richness and abundance had a significant correlation (, ) with rainfall. The minor wet season (September–November) to early dry season (December-January) had more diverse blooming plant species with greater availability of herbs/weeds than trees and shrubs. However, both trees/shrubs and herbs/weeds blooming groups were least in June during the major wet season. Blooming tree/shrub richness showed a highly significant inverse correlation (, ) with rainfall patterns. They declined a month ago after the start of the minor and major rainy seasons (September–March) and increased quickly two months later. This indicated that the two wild plant groups were not all in bloom at the same moment, and this is interesting for bees that need cover of floral resources around the year. Most (90%) blooming herbs and weeds were in full bloom towards the end of the major wet season and peaked in June-July when the maximum temperature was not high. The number of fresh flowers per 25 m square was not correlated to neither rainfall (, ) nor to maximum temperature ().
