Agricultural and Forest Entomology (2020), DOI: 10.1111/afe.12384 Synergistically positive effects of brick walls and farmlands on Anthophora waltoni populations Zhenghua Xie ∗ , Mohamed A. Shebl † , Dongdong Pan ‡ and Jianmin Wang § ∗ Department of Environmental Entomology, Research Institute of Insect Resources, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming, Yunnan, China, † Department of Plant Protections, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt, ‡ Department of Statistics, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, China and § Yunnan Rural Science and Technology Service Centre, Kunming, Yunnan, China Abstract 1 Some wild bees can persist in human-altered habitats in the face of global wild bee decline. To date, however, little is known about why those bees can tolerate human disturbances. Here we hypothesized that wild bees living in human-altered habitats could achieve their nesting resources and foral resources. Moreover, persistent provision of those resources could enhance their populations. 2 The foraging areas of solitary, cavity-nesting bees Anthophora waltoni were deter- mined in two agricultural ecosystems with rich bee populations. The infuences of seminatural habitats, nesting resources and farmlands on A. waltoni visit density were assessed by modelling bee density against landscape factors in 17 agricultural ecosys- tems. Moreover, temporal availabilities of those resources were measured across the last three decades. 3 A. waltoni used vetch felds and feld margins, instead of seminatural habitats, as foraging areas. The area of brick walls and the area of farmlands, as well as their temporal increases, synergistically positively infuenced A. waltoni visit density on vetch fowers. The percentage of buildings and farmlands increased across the last three decades in spite of a slowdown in 5-year growth of brick walls. 4 The results demonstrated the synergistically positive effects of nesting resources and foral resources, as well as persistent provisions of those resources, on A. waltoni populations in agricultural ecosystems. A. waltoni could live in the human-altered habitats because they persistently achieved their nesting resources and foral resources. Keywords foral resource, foraging microhabitat, nesting resource, pollinator decline, solitary bee. Introduction Anthropogenic disturbances have been changing the global land covers (Ellis et al., 2010; Seto et al., 2012). Replacement of natural and seminatural habitats (e.g. forests, grasslands, shrubs) by human-altered lands (e.g. farmlands, buildings and roads) is thought to reduce ecosystem biodiversity, including wild bees (Kremen et al., 2007; IPBES, 2016). Current evidences indicate a wide decline of wild bee abundance and diversity in human-altered habitats (Ricketts, 2004; Winfree et al., 2011). Meanwhile, recent studies also indicate a diversity of responses of wild bees to human disturbances (Carré et al., 2009; Collado Correspondence: Zhenghua Xie. Tel.: 0086-871-63862047; e-mail: cnbees@gmail.com Jianmin Wang. Tel.: 0086-871-63169621; e-mail: jmwang21@foxmail.com et al., 2019). While some wild bee species, like social and eusocial bees, are declining due to land use change worldwide (Goulson et al., 2015), other bee species, nevertheless, persist in human-altered habitats (Williams et al., 2010; Hall et al., 2016; Banaszak-Cibicka et al., 2018; Lowenstein et al., 2018). To date, little is known about why those bees could persist in human-altered habitats. Wild bees depend on foral resources, nesting sites and hiber- nation sites to complete their lives (Roulston & Goodell, 2011; Hall et al., 2016). They could persist in human-altered habi- tats if the remnant seminatural habitats provide them foral resources in human-altered habitats (Gotlieb et al., 2011; Lowen- stein et al., 2018). Similarly, human activities could also enhance wild bee abundance and diversity if nesting resources increase in human-altered habitats (Potts et al., 2005; Simanonok & Burkle, 2019; Xie et al., 2019). Wild bee abundance and diversity are © 2020 The Royal Entomological Society