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Abstract

Road verges can provide resources for pollinating insects, but it remains unclear if these resources are accessible to all species, or if some ecological traits can prevent certain species from using road verge habitats. We sampled wild bees and butterflies in 37 road verges in southern Sweden, with contrasting mowing regimes and along a gradient of traffic intensity. We compiled data on the pools of the regionally occurring species of wild bees and butterflies, and on ecological traits related to body size, feeding specialization and nesting habitat or overwintering stage. First, we tested if any of the selected ecological traits explained why some species were absent from road verges. Among the species that occurred in road verges, we then tested how the ecological traits influenced their response to management regime, verge width and traffic intensity. Along 7400 m of road verges, we observed 39% of bee species and 43% of the regionally occurring bee and butterfly species. Cavity-nesting bees were more likely to be absent from road verges than soil-nesting bees, but none of the ecological traits explained which of the regionally occurring butterfly species were absent from road verges. Among solitary bee and butterfly species that occurred in road verges, wider road verges reduced the absence probability more in dietary specialists than in generalist species. In bumblebees, wider road verges reduced the absence probability more in small-bodied than in large-bodied species. Our results indicate that road verges are suitable habitats for many but by far not all bee and butterfly species, and that certain species are prevented from using road verges because of their ecological traits. This needs to be considered when road verges are designed or managed to promote biodiversity.

Keywords

Bombus; Hymenoptera; Lepidoptera; Linear habitat; Linear landscape element mowing frequency; Occurrence; Roadside; Species filtering; Traffic volume, road verge

Published in

Basic and Applied Ecology
2026, volume: 92, pages: 65-74
Publisher: ELSEVIER GMBH

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2026.03.008

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/146752