Bees in the trees: Diverse spring fauna in temperate forest edge canopies

Abstract Temperate hardwood deciduous forest is the dominant landcover in the Northeastern US, yet its canopy is usually ignored as pollinator habitat due to the abundance of wind-pollinated trees. We describe the vertical stratification of spring bee communities in this habitat and explore associations with bee traits, canopy cover, and coarse woody debris. For three years, we sampled second-growth woodlots and apple orchard-adjacent forest sites from late March to early June every 7–10 days with paired sets of tri-colored pan traps in the canopy (20–25 m above ground) and understory (