Bees play an essential role in plant pollination and the ecosystem services they provide to increase the quantity and quality of many agricultural crops. Many food crops are either dependent on, or benefit from, bee pollination, yet bees have experienced population declines due to a combination of factors including pesticide exposure, susceptibility to pathogens and parasites, habitat loss through land use intensification, and lack of suitable resources. Most studies on pollinator conservation and pollination services focus on pollinator-dependent crops and fail to address the role self- and wind-pollinated plants, such as grapes, play in maintaining or threatening pollinators. In vineyards, bees are often overlooked, as they are not required for the pollination of grape. This study aimed to survey the bees visiting grape flowers of cold climate grapes by recording the abundance and diversity of bees. Observations were conducted at six commercial vineyards in South Central Wisconsin during grape bloom, late May to mid-June in 2022. At each vineyard, vines of mixed cold-climate grape varieties were observed between 10:00 and 17:00 hrs on six separate days. Timed observations (5 min per vine) of bees visiting grape inflorescences were conducted at ten randomly selected grape plants per plot per day. In addition, each day, one 10 min wandering transect was walked along two adjacent rows of grape vines and all bees observed visiting grape inflorescences were recorded. To prevent destructive sampling, bees were identified in the field to species when known or assigned to one of 14 pre-determined morphospecies representing 24 likely genera. Timed plant observations showed a total of 1,059 floral visitations, with an average of 0.31 /- 0.16 bees per minute of sampling. During the wandering transects, a total of 417 floral visitations were observed, with 1.44 /- 0.43 bee visits per minute of sampling. This research underscores the need for reduced pesticide inputs, particularly around bloom time, to protect the diversity and abundance of bees visiting grape inflorescences.
