Pollinator populations have declined substantially in recent years. The resulting loss in pollination services has both ecological and economic consequences including reductions in plant diversity and crop production and lower food security. Datasets that identify pollinators and their plant hosts are of utmost importance in order to understand the main causes of pollinator declines. Here we present a dataset, which contains 67,954 individual pollinator records. The data has been collected across the Pacific Northwest, primarily focused in British Columbia (Canada), with 182 individual sites over 11 years, between 2005 and 2017. This dataset comprises multiple studies that aimed to collect information on pollinator abundance, diversity and their interactions with plants. Overall, the dataset includes 937 morphospecies (of which 482 were identified to species) of pollinators across 105 families, including data for bees, wasps, butterflies, moths and flies. We also present information on the interactions of these species, with 473 species of plants. This data set is released for non-commercial use only. Credits should be given to this paper (i.e., proper citation). 

Pan trapping 

350ml pan traps were set out along 100 meter parallel transects at 10 metre intervals for 7.5-8.5 hours per day. Each study used an equivalent number of blue, white, and yellow pan traps per transect. 

Netting

Three types of netting surveys were used in these studies, single-plant-surveys, all-plant-surveys and transect methods.

“Single-Plant-Survey” by Plot: Conducted 10min netting surveys on each plant species in bloom within 1ha area. Stopping timer to process captured insects. Collectors conducted two 10min surveys per plant species within a surveying round. Sites were sampled multiple times throughout the season depending on the study.

“All-Plant-Survey” by plot: Two collectors conducted 15 or 20 or 30 min netting surveys on all plants within a 1ha area. Sites were sampled multiple times throughout the season depending on the study.

“Transect method”: Collectors conducted 10min netting surveys on 3 or 4 transects that were 50 or 100m in length. Collectors visited sites 2 to 5 times during the flowering season. Two studies only observed blueberry bushes and one study included other plant species. Each study conducted unique randomization techniques for netting within fields.

For both pan trapping and netting methods all pollinators were collected for identification in the lab.