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Abstract
Pollinator biodiversity in agroecosystems is often shaped by farm management practices and the availability of natural habitat. In this study, we examined the potential effects of percent semi-natural land cover, farm management strategy, and field location on pollinator biodiversity, focusing our efforts on native bees and syrphid flies in southeast Georgia blueberry fields. In total, we counted and identified 6,042 bee and syrphid specimens. Bees comprised 92% and syrphids 8% of the total pollinator community. We found at least 43 bee species, and 17 syrphid species, across all farms and sampling methods. Among native pollinators, bees make up more than 64% of the pollinator community and syrphids almost 36%. A comparison of twenty-four farms revealed increased abundance and richness of native bees at the edge of blueberry fields. While there were no significant effects observed from the percent of semi-natural land cover surrounding blueberry farms, marginal variations were noted. These findings suggest that farm management practices, including the configuration of the crop area (edge vs. interior), impact pollinator communities in agroecosystems.