scholarly journals Population Growth and Insecticide Residues of Honey Bees in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damayanti Buchori ◽  
Akhmad Rizali ◽  
Windra Priawandiputra ◽  
Dewi Sartiami ◽  
Midzon Johannis
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Home Garden

Global decline of pollinators, especially bees, has been documented in many countries. Several causes such as land-use change and agricultural intensification are reported to be the main drivers of the decline. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of land use on honey bee and stingless bee populations. Research was conducted in Bogor and Malang to compare between two different geographical areas. Managed bees such as honey bees (Apis cerana and A. mellifera) and stingless bees (Tetragonula laeviceps) were investigated to examine the effect of agricultural intensification. Field experiments were conducted by placing beehives in selected habitats (i.e., beekeeper gardens, forests areas, and agriculture areas). Population growth and neonicotinoid residue analysis of bees in different hive locations were measured to study the effect of habitat type. Population growth of bees represents the forager abundance and colony weight. Based on the analysis, we found that habitat type affected forager abundance and colony weight of honey bees (p < 0.05), although the patterns were different between species, region, as well as season. Forests could support the stingless bee colony better than agriculture and home garden habitats. Insecticide (neonicotinoid) was barely recorded in both honey bees and stingless bees.

scholarly journals Toward a Dualistic Growth? Population Increase and Land-Use Change in Rome, Italy

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 749
Author(s):  
Leonardo Bianchini ◽  
Gianluca Egidi ◽  
Ahmed Alhuseen ◽  
Adele Sateriano ◽  
Sirio Cividino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Per Capita

The spatial mismatch between population growth and settlement expansion is at the base of current models of urban growth. Empirical evidence is increasingly required to inform planning measures promoting urban containment in the context of a stable (or declining) population. In these regards, per-capita indicators of land-use change can be adopted with the aim at evaluating long-term sustainability of urbanization processes. The present study assesses spatial variations in per-capita indicators of land-use change in Rome, Central Italy, at five years (1949, 1974, 1999, 2008, and 2016) with the final objective of quantifying the mismatch between urban expansion and population growth. Originally specialized in agricultural productions, Rome’s metropolitan area is a paradigmatic example of dispersed urban expansion in the Mediterranean basin. By considering multiple land-use dynamics, per-capita indicators of landscape change delineated three distinctive waves of growth corresponding with urbanization, suburbanization, and a more mixed stage with counter-urbanization and re-urbanization impulses. By reflecting different socioeconomic contexts on a local scale, urban fabric and forests were identified as the ‘winner’ classes, expanding homogeneously over time at the expense of cropland. Agricultural landscapes experienced a more heterogeneous trend with arable land and pastures declining systematically and more fragmented land classes (e.g., vineyards and olive groves) displaying stable (or slightly increasing) trends. The continuous reduction of per-capita surface area of cropland that’s supports a reduced production base, which is now insufficient to satisfy the rising demand for fresh food at the metropolitan scale, indicates the unsustainability of the current development in Rome and more generally in the whole Mediterranean basin, a region specialized traditionally in (proximity) agricultural productions.

scholarly journals Occurrence and Phylogenetic Analysis of DWV in Stingless Bee (Apidae sp.) in China: A Case Report

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Zhang ◽  
Yanchun Deng ◽  
Hongxia Zhao ◽  
Ming Zhang ◽  
Chunsheng Hou
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Bee Colonies ◽  
Bee Viruses

Honey bees play a vital role in providing pollination services for agricultural crops and wild flowering plants. However, the spillover risk of their pathogens to other pollinators or wild insects is becoming a cause for concern. There is some evidence that stingless bees can carry honey bee viruses, but little is known about the presence of honey bee viruses in stingless bees in China. Here, we investigate the occurrence of major honey bee pathogens including bacteria, fungi, and viruses in stingless bees (Apidae: sp.). Our results show that the stingless bees (Apidae: sp.) were mainly infected with DWV-A, but no DWV-B and DWV-C. Phylogenetic analysis on fragments of lp, RdRp, and VP3 of DWV-A indicated that genetic variation in VP3 might an important indicator for host-specific viruses, but it requires further study. Our results indicated that DWV-A is not only the major strain of virus currently circulating in managed bee colonies in China and globally, but in stingless bee species as a whole.

scholarly journals Resin Use by Stingless Bees: A Review

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 719
Author(s):  
Maggie Shanahan ◽  
Marla Spivak
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Tropical Ecosystems ◽  
Social Bees ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Chemical Profiles ◽  
Land Use Practices

Stingless bees (Meliponini) are highly social bees that are native to tropical and sub-tropical ecosystems. Resin use is vital to many aspects of stingless bee colony function. Stingless bees use resin to build essential nest structures, repel predators, and kill would-be invaders. Furthermore, resin-derived compounds have been found to enrich the cuticular chemical profiles of many stingless bee species, and resin may play an important role in shaping the microbial communities associated with stingless bees and their nests. Despite its importance for colony function, previous reviews of resin use by stingless bees are lacking. This topic grows increasingly urgent as changes in beekeeping and land use practices occur, potentially diminishing stingless bees’ ability to incorporate resin into the nest environment. In this article, we review existing literature on resin use by stingless bees and discuss potential areas of future research.

scholarly journals Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies benefit from grassland/ pasture while bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) colonies in the same landscapes benefit from non-corn/soybean cropland

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257701
Author(s):  
Gabriela M. Quinlan ◽  
Meghan O. Milbrath ◽  
Clint R. V. Otto ◽  
Rufus Isaacs
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
The United States ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Bombus Impatiens ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Social Bees

Agriculturally important commercially managed pollinators including honey bees (Apis mellifera L., 1758) and bumble bees (Bombus impatiens Cresson, 1863) rely on the surrounding landscape to fulfill their dietary needs. A previous study in Europe demonstrated that managed honey bee foragers and unmanaged native bumble bee foragers are associated with different land uses. However, it is unclear how response to land use compares between managed honey bees and a managed native bumble bee species in the United States, where honey bees are an imported species. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no such direct comparisons of bee responses to land use have been made at the colony level. To better understand how two different social bees respond to variation in land use, we monitored the weights of A. mellifera and B. impatiens colonies placed in 12 apiaries across a range of land use in Michigan, United States in 2017. Bombus impatiens colonies gained more weight and produced more drones when surrounded by diverse agricultural land (i.e., non-corn/soybean cropland such as tree fruits and grapes), while honey bee colonies gained more weight when surrounded by more grassland/pasture land. These findings add to our understanding of how different bee species respond to agricultural landscapes, highlighting the need for further species-specific land use studies to inform tailored land management.

scholarly journals Local and Landscape Compositions Influence Stingless Bee Communities and Pollination Networks in Tropical Mixed Fruit Orchards, Thailand

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Kanuengnit Wayo ◽  
Tuanjit Sritongchuay ◽  
Bajaree Chuttong ◽  
Korrawat Attasopa ◽  
Sara Bumrungsri
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Fruit Orchards ◽  
Positive Direct ◽  
Landscape Level

Stingless bees are vital pollinators for both wild and crop plants, yet their communities have been affected and altered by anthropogenic land-use change. Additionally, few studies have directly addressed the consequences of land-use change for meliponines, and knowledge on how their communities change across gradients in surrounding landscape cover remains scarce. Here, we examine both how local and landscape-level compositions as well as forest proximity affect both meliponine species richness and abundance together with pollination networks across 30 mixed fruit orchards in Southern Thailand. The results reveal that most landscape-level factors significantly influenced both stingless bee richness and abundance. Surrounding forest cover has a strong positive direct effect on both factors, while agricultural and urbanized cover generally reduced both bee abundance and diversity. In the local habitat, there is a significant interaction between orchard size and floral richness with stingless bee richness. We also found that pollinator specialization in pollination networks decreased when the distance to the forest patch increased. Both local and landscape factors thus influenced meliponine assemblages, particularly the forest patches surrounding an orchard, which potentially act as a key reservoir for stingless bees and other pollinator taxa. Preservation of forest patches can protect the permanent nesting and foraging habitat of various pollinator taxa, resulting in high visitation for crop and wild plants.

scholarly journals The content of propolis’s flavonoid from two species of stingless bee in Lombok

2021 ◽  
Vol 914 (1) ◽  
pp. 012064
Author(s):  
N Wahyuni ◽  
S D Riendriasari
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bees ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Aqueous Extraction ◽  
Flavonoid Content ◽  
Great Demand ◽  
The People ◽  
Young Leaves

Abstract Today’s stingless bees are in great demand by beekeepers in Lombok. Besides producing honey, it also produces propolis which has more value. Propolis or bee glue is a substance produced by honey bees collected from the top young leaves mixed with the saliva, patch, and hive sterilization. This substance could be used for antibacterial, antivirus, antifungal, and anti-protozoa. In Lombok, apiculture for stingless bees has spread in almost every district. Northern Lombok, West Lombok, and East Lombok were the first three locations that developed stingless bees. This study aimed to identify the species of stingless bees and their propolis productivity and characteristics produced by each species. There were two species of stingless bees cultivated by the people of Lombok, Trigona clypearis and Trigona sapiens. The development of science, genus Trigona changed nomenclature into Tetragonula. The yield of propolis through extraction using water or Aqueous Extraction Propolis (AEP) produced by T. clypearis was 34-55% and T. sapiens was in the range of 3-24%. The flavonoid content equivalent to quercetin in propolis produced by T. sapiens as vary as T. clypearis. The results of this study could be used as a baseline for other propolis extraction activities to produce propolis more marketable.

scholarly journals Nosema ceranae causes cellular immunosuppression and interacts with thiamethoxam to increase mortality in the stingless bee Melipona colimana

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
José O. Macías-Macías ◽  
José C. Tapia-Rivera ◽  
Alvaro De la Mora ◽  
José M. Tapia-González ◽  
Francisca Contreras-Escareño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bees ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Nosema Ceranae ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Microsporidian Parasite ◽  
Field Exposure ◽  
Exposure Levels ◽  
And Control

Abstract The microsporidian parasite Nosema ceranae and neonicotinoid insecticides affect the health of honey bees (Apis mellifera). However, there is limited information about the effect of these stressors on other pollinators such as stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini). We examined the separate and combined effects of N. ceranae and the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam at field-exposure levels on the survivorship and cellular immunity (hemocyte concentration) of the stingless bee Melipona colimana. Newly-emerged bees were subjected to four treatments provided in sucrose syrup: N. ceranae spores, thiamethoxam, thiamethoxam and N. ceranae, and control (bees receiving only syrup). N. ceranae developed infections of > 467,000 spores/bee in the group treated with spores only. However, in the bees subjected to both stressors, infections were < 143,000 spores/bee, likely due to an inhibitory effect of thiamethoxam on the microsporidium. N. ceranae infections did not affect bee survivorship, but thiamethoxam plus N. ceranae significantly increased mortality. Hemocyte counts were significantly lower in N. ceranae infected-bees than in the other treatments. These results suggest that N. ceranae may infect, proliferate and cause cellular immunosuppression in stingless bees, that exposure to sublethal thiamethoxam concentrations is toxic to M. colimana when infected with N. ceranae, and that thiamethoxam restrains N. ceranae proliferation. These findings have implications on pollinators’ conservation.

scholarly journals Identification of Plant Origin of Propolis from Thailand Stingless Bees by Comparative Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1934578X1801300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eriko Ishizu ◽  
Sari Honda ◽  
Boonyadist Vongsak ◽  
Shigenori Kumazawa
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Reversed Phase ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Plant Origin ◽  
Garcinia Mangostana ◽  
Ethanol Extracts ◽  
Fruit Surface

Propolis is a resinous mixture of substances collected by honey bees from certain plants. It has gained popularity as a food and alternative medicine. We recently obtained Thailand stingless bee propolis. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are only a few studies on native Thailand stingless bee propolis. The purpose of this study was to analyze the composition of Thailand stingless bee propolis and to identify its plant origin. Comparative analysis of the 70% ethanol extracts of Thailand stingless bees propolis and the yellow resin from the fruit surface of Garcinia mangostana was performed using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution-electrospray mass spectrometry. The extracts showed the similar chromatographic patterns. In conclusion, we suggest that the plant origin of Thailand stingless bee propolis is the yellow resin from fruit surface of G. mangostana.

scholarly journals Genetic diversity of two stingless bees, Trigona nigerrima (Cresson 1878) and Trigona corvina (Cockerell 1913), in coffee dominated landscapes in southern Mexico

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik De Jesús Solórzano-Gordillo ◽  
Nina Vanessa Cabrera-Marín ◽  
José Mérida ◽  
Remy Benoit Marie Vandame ◽  
Daniel Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Population Genetics ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Stingless Bees ◽  
Stingless Bee ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Expected Heterozygosity ◽  
Allele Richness ◽  
Genetic Status

Stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini) are key pollinators in natural and agricultural Pantropical environments. Current human activities, however, threaten their populations, making it urgent to assesstheir abundance and genetic status. By a population genetics approach, we calculated the genetic diversity and estimated the number of wild colonies of two stingless bee species, Trigona nigerrima (Cresson) and T. corvina (Cockerell) in southern Mexico. Allele richness ranged from 10 to 19 (mean ± SD = 14 ± 3.5) for both species. Expected heterozygosity ranged 0.88-0.93 for T. corvina and 0.82-0.92 for T. nigerrima. The estimated number of colonies estimated was 25 on average for T. corvina and 21 for T. nigerrima. According to our results populations of both species seem not to be in danger. We also show that genetic tools can be extremely useful for colony density estimation for stingless bees as it is for bumble bees and honey bees.

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