Dominance of honey bees is negatively associated with wild bee diversity in commercial apple orchards regardless of management practices

Weekers, Timothy; Marshall, Leon; Leclercq, Nicolas; Wood, Thomas J.; Cejas, Diego; Drepper, Bianca; Hutchinson, Louise; Michez, Denis; Molenberg, Jean-Marc; Smagghe, Guy; Vandamme, Peter; Vereecken, Nicolas

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107697

Cited by 37 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…This could be explained by our sampling of these crops during cold and rainy weather conditions, when only a few species that are more tolerant to suboptimal conditions were active (including the genera Anthophora, Bombus, Eucera, and Lasioglossum). A similar pattern of floral visitation was found along a climatic gradient from Spain to the Netherlands with a growing dominance of the genera Bombus and Lasioglossum (Weekers et al, 2022). The higher abundance of Anthophora and Eucera in our study sites is typical to countries with a warmer Mediterranean climate, such as Morocco and Spain (Patiny and Michez, 2007;Weekers et al, 2022).…”

Section: Wild Bees Visiting Crops In Moroccosupporting

confidence: 80%

“…A similar pattern of floral visitation was found along a climatic gradient from Spain to the Netherlands with a growing dominance of the genera Bombus and Lasioglossum (Weekers et al, 2022). The higher abundance of Anthophora and Eucera in our study sites is typical to countries with a warmer Mediterranean climate, such as Morocco and Spain (Patiny and Michez, 2007;Weekers et al, 2022). Particularly in cherry orchards, we recorded mostly bees of the genus Lasioglossum while Andrena were less frequent, contrary to other studies in Germany and Belgium where these bees were the most abundant (Holzschuh et al, 2012;Eeraerts et al, 2020).…”

Section: Wild Bees Visiting Crops In Moroccosupporting

confidence: 69%

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Diversity and Relative Abundance of Insect Pollinators in Moroccan Agroecosystems

Abdouni

Lhomme²,

Christmann³

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Agroecosystems are often impoverished ecosystems, but they can host diverse communities of insects which provide ecosystem services. Specifically, crops may benefit from insect pollinators that increase their quantity and quality of yields. Basic knowledge is still needed regarding the identity, diversity, abundance, and ecology of insect pollinators in many parts of the world, especially in low and middle-income countries. In this study we investigate the potential of agroecosystems and crops in Morocco to host a high diversity of insect pollinators. We sampled insects in four eco-climatic regions encompassing a total of 22 crops for 2 years (2018–2019). After describing the general pattern of diversity and abundance of insect pollinators, we focused our comparative analyses on bees as they are known to be the most efficient and abundant group of insect pollinators. We recorded a total of 53,361 insect pollinators in all agroecosystems among which 37,091 were visiting crop flowers. Bees were by far the most abundant group visiting crops. Honeybees represented 49% of crop visitors followed by wild bees representing 33% of relative abundance. Three genera (Lasioglossum, Andrena, and Xylocopa) represented 53% of the total abundance of wild bees visiting crops. We identified a total of 213 species visiting crops (22% of national wild bee species richness). A comparison of the abundance, species richness, and community composition of wild bees visiting the same crops showed significant inter-regional differences for zucchini, faba bean, and eggplant. This study highlights the high diversity of pollinators in Moroccan agroecosystems and represents an important step toward exploring the Moroccan pollinator fauna. It provides basic information for future studies on pollinator conservation and pollination services.

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Section: Wild Bees Visiting Crops In Moroccosupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Wild Bees Visiting Crops In Moroccosupporting

confidence: 69%

Diversity and Relative Abundance of Insect Pollinators in Moroccan Agroecosystems

Abdouni

Lhomme²,

Christmann³

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Honeybee colony collapses have occurred in the past and may well happen again. Moreover, honeybees may compete with wild pollinators for floral resources [40,41]. Therefore, the call for restoring biodiversity-friendly landscapes [42] may certainly also be relevant for Korla fragrant pear production landscapes, which strongly depend on pollinators to support food production and livelihoods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Pollination Deficit and Strong Dependence on Honeybees in Pollination of Korla Fragrant Pear, Pyrus sinkiangensis

Sun

Liu

et al. 2022

Plants

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Pollination deficits can compromise fruit yield and quality and have been reported in several fruit crops. It is unknown whether there is a pollination deficit in the production of Korla fragrant pear, Pyrus sinkiangensis, in China, and if so, whether this deficit can be mitigated by the use of managed honeybees (Apis mellifera). We assessed insect communities, flower visitation, pollination deficit and honeybee contribution to pear pollination in Korla fragrant pear orchards in Xinjiang, China. Insect communities were monitored using colored pan traps, and pollination deficit was assessed by comparing fruit set with open pollination to that with hand pollination in orchards without beehives from 2018 to 2021. The contribution of honeybees to pollination was assessed by comparing flower visitation, fruit set and fruit quality in pear orchards with and without beehives in 2020 and 2021. In orchards without beehives, wild bees (72%) were the dominant pollinator group in pan traps, followed by honeybees (15%), moths, hoverflies, butterflies and wasps (Vespidae). Fruit set in these orchards was much lower with open pollination (8 ± 2%) than with hand pollination (74 ± 4%). When comparing pollination in orchards with and without beehives in 2020 and 2021, we found that honeybees were responsible for most of the flower visits in orchards with (96%) and without beehives (66%). Wild bees were responsible for 1% and 6% of flower visits in orchards with and without beehives, respectively. Fruit set was significantly higher in orchards with beehives (38 ± 9%) than in orchards without beehives (12 ± 3%), while fruit set and sugar content were positively associated with pollinator visitation rate. The findings reveal a large pollination deficit in Korla fragrant pear orchards, and show that this deficit can be mitigated using managed honeybees.

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“…The protocol used in the study was developed as part of the CliPS (Climate change and its effect in Pollination Services) project (2018)(2019)(2020)(2021)(2022). CliPS is a global project that focuses on apple pollination and pollinator communities and has been developed to ensure the highest level of replicability across different sites and regions (Prendergast et al 2021;Leclerq et al 2022;Weekers et al 2022). Three orchards were selected from each of the three districts with a minimum distance of 2 km between orchards.…”

Section: Site Overview and Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollinators and crops in Bhutan: insect abundance improves fruit quality in Himalayan apple orchards

Dorji¹,

Tashi²,

Biesmeijer³

et al. 2022

J Poll Ecol

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Apples are one of the most important global crops that relies heavily on insect pollination, which has been shown to increase apple production and value. However, recent reports indicate that apple production has been declining in certain regions, including in Bhutan. One of the potential causes of declining production are pollination deficits driven by a low abundance and diversity of pollinators, a phenomenon that has received little attention in Bhutan to date. Here, we present the first study examining the diversity of flying insects in Bhutanese apple orchards in relation to apple quality. During the apple flowering season, 1,006 insects comprising 44 unique (morpho-)species from the orders Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera were recorded using a standardized method of passive and active trapping within nine different orchards in Thimphu, Paro, and Haa districts, in the western part of Bhutan. During the harvest season, 495 apples were collected from these nine orchards, and we measured five different parameters; weight, size, sugar concentration, seed number, and malformation score. The most dominant flower visitors across all orchards were honey bees (mostly Apis mellifera, followed by A. cerana and A. dorsata). Orchards with a higher abundance of flying insects (both managed and wild) had better apple quality (weight, size and sugar concentration). Contrary to reports from other regions of the world, flower visitor diversity did not correlate with the quality of the apples. This represents the first study reporting on apple pollination in Bhutan and highlights the importance of pollinators and reinforces the need to develop pollinator friendly practices to ensure sustainable apple production.

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Dominance of honey bees is negatively associated with wild bee diversity in commercial apple orchards regardless of management practices

Cited by 37 publications

References 94 publications

Diversity and Relative Abundance of Insect Pollinators in Moroccan Agroecosystems

Diversity and Relative Abundance of Insect Pollinators in Moroccan Agroecosystems

High Pollination Deficit and Strong Dependence on Honeybees in Pollination of Korla Fragrant Pear, Pyrus sinkiangensis

Pollinators and crops in Bhutan: insect abundance improves fruit quality in Himalayan apple orchards

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