Consumer-Ready Insect Hotels: An Assessment of Arthropod Visitation and Nesting Success

Abstract Insect nesting boxes and hotels have the potential to provide shelter overwintering sites for beneficial insect communities such as pollinating bees, wasps, earwigs, other predatory arthropods. This study evaluated arthropod visitation consumer-ready, commercially available over a 2-yr period. were placed on mature river birch (Betula nigra L.) crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica in garden plots established with floral resources pollinators insects. Paper thread-waisted soldier flies, ants, spiders observed visiting boxes. Boxes located plot treatments (with resources) had greatest numbers diversity of pollinator taxa compared control (naturalized areas away from 2016. B. higher number wasps 2016 total insects 2017. Higher ants arthropods found L. During study, bamboo stems drilled tunnels inhabitance. Largest counts occupied proximity trees.