Application of plant metabarcoding to identify diverse honeybee pollen forage along an urban–agricultural gradient

Richardson, Rodney T.; Eaton, Tyler D.; Lin, Chia‐Hua; G, Cherry; Johnson, Reed M.; Sponsler, Douglas B.

doi:10.1111/mec.15704

Cited by 35 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…This is the first evidence from a largescale study that urban habitats provide more pollen diversity to honey bees. Previously, this was demonstrated for a few study sites only from the USA [42,74] and one study from southeast England [75]. The supply of sufficient and diverse pollen is considered a key feature of honey bee health [32,[76][77][78].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, the pollen stripped from a bee using a pollen trap provides valuable spatial and temporal information of the botanical quality of the environment by means of the biodiversity of this pollen at the time of sampling [40,41]. One current drawback of studies using this method is that the application of pollen traps by scientists to collect pollen loads is often limited to few study sites [2,8,42]. Nevertheless, it remains the most practical direct assessment of pollen diversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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CSI Pollen: Diversity of Honey Bee Collected Pollen Studied by Citizen Scientists

Brodschneider

Kalcher-Sommersguter

Kuchling

et al. 2021

Insects

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A diverse supply of pollen is an important factor for honey bee health, but information about the pollen diversity available to colonies at the landscape scale is largely missing. In this COLOSS study, beekeeper citizen scientists sampled and analyzed the diversity of pollen collected by honey bee colonies. As a simple measure of diversity, beekeepers determined the number of colors found in pollen samples that were collected in a coordinated and standardized way. Altogether, 750 beekeepers from 28 different regions from 24 countries participated in the two-year study and collected and analyzed almost 18,000 pollen samples. Pollen samples contained approximately six different colors in total throughout the sampling period, of which four colors were abundant. We ran generalized linear mixed models to test for possible effects of diverse factors such as collection, i.e., whether a minimum amount of pollen was collected or not, and habitat type on the number of colors found in pollen samples. To identify habitat effects on pollen diversity, beekeepers’ descriptions of the surrounding landscape and CORINE land cover classes were investigated in two different models, which both showed that both the total number and the rare number of colors in pollen samples were positively affected by ‘urban’ habitats or ‘artificial surfaces’, respectively. This citizen science study underlines the importance of the habitat for pollen diversity for bees and suggests higher diversity in urban areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CSI Pollen: Diversity of Honey Bee Collected Pollen Studied by Citizen Scientists

Brodschneider

Kalcher-Sommersguter

Kuchling

et al. 2021

Insects

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This shift in the prospected flora is also coupled to fulfil the nutritional demand with a diverse and complementary floral diet [107,108]. Therefore, it shows the importance of taking beta diversity and not only the local richness into account to understand the community structure of foraged plants throughout space and time scales to protect local biodiversity and support conservation planning [53,109]. Despite the landscape structure of the foraged plant community, the trait-based analysis revealed no significant preference for honeybee colonies, except for herbaceous plants in rural landscapes (Fig 5A).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In temperate climates, the foraged plant traits also vary according to the course of the seasons: spring is dominated by trees and shrubs, summer has more herbaceous species, and autumn is characterized by woody vines [52]. Nonetheless, the space-time effects combined with plant traits in the foraged plant community have yet to be studied extensively [53].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pollen meta-barcoding reveals foraging preferences of honeybees (Apis melliferaL.) along space-time gradient in Japan

Gregoire

Mestrez

Lejeune

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The availability of pollen in urban-rural landscapes is an essential factor that influences the population dynamics of insect pollinators. The amount and diversity of pollen play a pivotal role in the foraging ecology of pollinators for their growth and health, but investigations on the spatio-temporal patterns of foraged plants remain rare, especially in cities as neo-ecosystems. Here, we explored the temporal foraging habits of a highly polylectic pollinator (Apis mellifera L.) in a study area, including different landscape classes from rural to urban areas. Mixed-pollen in each month and each location (N = 17) were analysed using DNA meta-barcoding to identify plants visited by honeybees. The results showed that the landscape class (rural, suburban and urban areas) explains spatial variations in the plant composition foraged by honeybees, but not in taxa richness. Furthermore, pollen diversity and plant composition showed a strong seasonal dependence. Furthermore, a higher plant richness and foraged woody taxa was found to occur in spring, which was mainly dominated by the genera Prunus and Acer. In summer and autumn, the genera Trifolium and Plantago of the herbaceous stratum were the most visited plants. The Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Brassicaceae, Plantaginaceae, and Onagraceae plant families were the most frequently observed in all combined samples. The present study contributes to a broader understanding of the ecology and floral preferences of honeybees, on which urban planning can rely to promote biodiversity in cities.

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Environmental metagenetics unveil novel plant‐pollinator interactions

Wizenberg,

Newburn,

Richardson

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Honey bees are efficient pollinators of flowering plants, aiding in the plant reproductive cycle and acting as vehicles for evolutionary processes. Their role as agents of selection and drivers of gene flow is instrumental to the structure of plant populations, but historically, our understanding of their influence has been limited to predominantly insect‐dispersed flowering species. Recent metagenetic work has provided evidence that honey bees also forage on pollen from anemophilous species, suggesting that their role as vectors for transmission of plant genetic material is not confined to groups designated as entomophilous, and leading us to ask: could honey bees act as dispersal agents for non‐flowering plant taxa? Using an extensive pollen metabarcoding dataset from Canada, we discovered that honey bees may serve as dispersal agents for an array of sporophytes (Anchistea, Claytosmunda, Dryopteris, Osmunda, Osmundastrum, Equisetum) and bryophytes (Funaria, Orthotrichum, Sphagnum, Ulota). Our findings also suggest that honey bees may occasionally act as vectors for the dispersal of aquatic phototrophs, specifically Coccomyxa and Protosiphon, species of green algae. Our work has shed light on the broad resource‐access patterns that guide plant‐pollinator interactions and suggests that bees could act as vectors of gene flow, and potentially even agents of selection, across Plantae.

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Application of plant metabarcoding to identify diverse honeybee pollen forage along an urban–agricultural gradient

Cited by 35 publications

References 74 publications

CSI Pollen: Diversity of Honey Bee Collected Pollen Studied by Citizen Scientists

CSI Pollen: Diversity of Honey Bee Collected Pollen Studied by Citizen Scientists

Pollen meta-barcoding reveals foraging preferences of honeybees (Apis melliferaL.) along space-time gradient in Japan

Environmental metagenetics unveil novel plant‐pollinator interactions

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