Habitat loss is a leading cause of species decline, and restoring habitat is an important component in the conservation of all species, including wild bees. Wild bees may benefit from revegetation and habitat restoration, but bee communities are also affected by the age of restoration and the degree of habitat connectivity. In this study, we surveyed bee and plant communities at three California coastal restoration sites, which have experienced similar anthropogenic impacts but vary in restoration age and connectivity. We examine the floral resources at these locations, identify plant species that significantly impact bee communities, and discuss our results in the context of restoration age and habitat connectivity. We find similar mostly generalist bee communities amid differing plant communities. We also present management considerations for restoration practitioners aiming to improve habitats for bee conservation. Finally, we discuss habitat connectivity as a possible limiting factor for bees, challenging the "build it and they will come" assumption in habitat restoration.

Phenotypic divergence is an important consequence of restricted gene flow in insular populations. This divergence can be challenging to detect when it occurs through subtle shifts in morphological traits, particularly in traits with complex geometries, like insect wing venation. Here, we employed geometric morphometrics to assess the extent of variation in wing venation patterns across reproductively isolated populations of the social sweat bee, Halictus tripartitus. We examined wing morphology of specimens sampled from a reproductively isolated population of H. tripartitus on Santa Cruz Island (Channel Islands, Southern California). Our analysis revealed significant differentiation in wing venation in this island population relative to conspecific mainland populations. We additionally found that this population-level variation was less pronounced than the species-level variation in wing venation among three sympatric congeners native to the region, Halictus tripartitus, Halictus ligatus, and Halictus farinosus. Together, these results provide evidence for subtle phenotypic divergence in an island bee population. More broadly, these results emphasize the utility and potential of wing morphometrics for large-scale assessment of insect population structure.