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The ongoing scientific controversy over a putative “global pollination crisis” underscores the lack of understanding of the response of bees (the most important taxon of pollinators) to ongoing global land‐use changes. We studied the effects of distance to forest, tree management, and floral resources on bee communities in pastures (the dominant land‐use type) in southern Costa Rica. Over two years, we sampled bees and floral resources in 21 pastures at three distance classes from a large (∼230‐ha) forest patch and of three common types: open pasture; pasture with remnant trees; and pasture with live fences. We found no consistent differences in bee diversity or abundance with respect to pasture management or floral resources. Bee community composition, however, was strikingly different at forest edges as compared to deforested countryside only a few hundred meters from forest. At forest edges, native …