scholarly journals Assessing pollinators’ use of floral resource subsidies in agri-environment schemes: An illustration usingPhacelia tanacetifoliaand honeybees

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowan Sprague ◽  
Stéphane Boyer ◽  
Georgia M. Stevenson ◽  
Steve D. Wratten
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Annual Plant ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Resource Subsidies ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Field Collection ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Floral Resource ◽  
Phacelia Tanacetifolia

BackgroundHoneybees (Apis melliferaL.) are frequently used in agriculture for pollination services because of their abundance, generalist floral preferences, ease of management and hive transport. However, their populations are declining in many countries. Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) are being implemented in agricultural systems to combat the decline in populations of pollinators and other insects. Despite AES being increasingly embedded in policy and budgets, scientific assessments of many of these schemes still are lacking, and only a few studies have examined the extent to which insect pollinators use the floral enhancements that are part of AES and on which floral components they feed (i.e., pollen and/or nectar).MethodsIn the present work, we used a combination of observations on honeybee foraging for nectar/pollen from the Californian annual plantPhacelia tanacetifoliain the field, collection of pollen pellets from hives, and pollen identification, to assess the value of adding phacelia to an agro-ecosystem to benefit honeybees.ResultsIt was found that phacelia pollen was almost never taken by honeybees. The work here demonstrates that honeybees may not use the floral enhancements added to a landscape as expected and points to the need for more careful assessments of what resources are used by honeybees in AES and understanding the role, if any, which AES play in enhancing pollinator fitness.DiscussionWe recommend using the methodology in this paper to explore the efficacy of AES before particular flowering species are adopted more widely to give a more complete illustration of the actual efficacy of AES.

scholarly journals Novel data support model linking floral resources and honey bee competition with bumble bee abundances in coastal scrub

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane M Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Statistical Model ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Mechanistic Models ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Forage Plants ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Floral Resource

Growing evidence supports that many bee populations are declining, with potentially serious consequences for pollination services. Mechanistic models that predict bee abundances from drivers like floral resource availability can be a powerful way to understand and address declines, but remain rare and largely unvalidated. I used temporally and spatially novel data to validate previous analyses linking bumble bee (Bombus spp.) declines in California coastal scrub with loss of floral resources, mediated by drought and competition with non-native honey bees (Apis mellifera). New observations from 2015-2018 were combined with data from 1999-2014 to further test these mechanistic hypotheses and evaluate predictions of a statistical model for Bombus abundances. As predicted, positive associations between spring rainfall and floral abundances and between Bombus and key forage plants were consistent between time periods. Increased A. mellifera abundance corresponded with reduced Bombus use of the most abundant forage plant and lower Bombus abundances in the following year. Quantitative predictions from the Bombus statistical model previously developed for 1999-2014 were relatively unbiased and strongly rank correlated with either spatially or temporally novel data. However, the model consistently underpredicted Bombus abundances when both flower patch and time period were novel. Overall, four new years of data further strengthen evidence that loss of floral resources due to drought and competition with feral Apis mellifera is an important cause of Bombus decline in this habitat. These findings reinforce the value of even simple models that are mechanistically framed, both in understanding past patterns of change and for qualitative prediction. 

scholarly journals Review on Sublethal Effects of Environmental Contaminants in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Knowledge Gaps and Future Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Di Noi ◽  
Silvia Casini ◽  
Tommaso Campani ◽  
Giampiero Cai ◽  
Ilaria Caliani
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Sublethal Effects ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Anthropogenic Contamination ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
General Decline ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
The Impact

Honey bees and the pollination services they provide are fundamental for agriculture and biodiversity. Agrochemical products and other classes of contaminants, such as trace elements and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, contribute to the general decline of bees’ populations. For this reason, effects, and particularly sublethal effects of contaminants need to be investigated. We conducted a review of the existing literature regarding the type of effects evaluated in Apis mellifera, collecting information about regions, methodological approaches, the type of contaminants, and honey bees’ life stages. Europe and North America are the regions in which A. mellifera biological responses were mostly studied and the most investigated compounds are insecticides. A. mellifera was studied more in the laboratory than in field conditions. Through the observation of the different responses examined, we found that there were several knowledge gaps that should be addressed, particularly within enzymatic and molecular responses, such as those regarding the immune system and genotoxicity. The importance of developing an integrated approach that combines responses at different levels, from molecular to organism and population, needs to be highlighted in order to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic contamination on this pollinator species.

Sequential generations of honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens produced using cryopreserved semen

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon K. Hopkins ◽  
Charles Herr ◽  
Walter S. Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Eastern Asia ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Instrumental Insemination ◽  
Diploid Female ◽  
Frozen Semen

Much of the world’s food production is dependent on honey bees for pollination, and expanding food production will further increase the demand for managed pollination services. Apiculturists outside the native range of the honey bee, in the Americas, Australia and eastern Asia, have used only a few of the 27 described subspecies of honey bees (Apis mellifera) for beekeeping purposes. Within the endemic ranges of a particular subspecies, hybridisation can threaten native subspecies when local beekeepers import and propagate non-native honey bees. For many threatened species, cryopreserved germplasm can provide a resource for the preservation of diversity and recovery of endangered populations. However, although instrumental insemination of queen honey bees is well established, the absence of an effective means to cryopreserve honey bee semen has limited the success of efforts to preserve genetic diversity within the species or to develop repositories of honey bee germplasm for breeding purposes. Herein we report that some queens inseminated with cryopreserved semen were capable of producing a substantial number of fertilised offspring. These diploid female larvae were used to produce two additional sequential generations of new queens, which were then back-crossed to the same stock of frozen semen. Our results demonstrate the ability to produce queens using cryopreserved honey bee spermatozoa and the potential for the establishment of a honey bee genetic repository.

Introduced Honeybees (Apis mellifera) Reduce Pollination Success without Affecting the Floral Resource Taken by Native Pollinators1

Biotropica ◽  
10.1646/03094 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roselaini Mendes do Carmo ◽  
Edivani Villaron Franceschinelli ◽  
Fernando Amaral da Silveira
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Pollination Success ◽  
Floral Resource

scholarly journals Bee fauna potential visitors of coriander flowers Coriandrum sativum L. (Apiaceae) in the Mitidja area (Algeria)

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Bendifallah ◽  
Kamel Louadi ◽  
Salaheddin Doumandji
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Coriandrum Sativum ◽  
Insect Fauna ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Mediterranean Plant

Abstract Coriander Coriandrum sativum L. (Apiaceae) is a year-round condiment and aromatic Mediterranean plant. It is cultivated in several countries in North Africa, in Europe, and Western Asia. In the El Harrach area of Algiers, the insect fauna visiting crop flowers includes Diptera (Syrphidae), Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera such as Chrysididae, Vespoidea, and Apoidea (Bees). The latter super-family comprises the majority of insect pollinators. Visiting bees belong to four families: Apidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae, and Colletidae. The main visitors are honeybees and six species of Andrenidae: Andrena flavipes, Andrena thoracica, Andrena lagopus, Andrena bimaculata, Andrena discors, and Andrena cinerea elliptica. The three species Andrena lagopus, Andrena bimaculata, and Andrena cinerea elliptica have 100% pollinating visits while Apis mellifera has only 63%. Andrena cinerea elliptica is the most frequent and the most abundant species.

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