Origin and protection of middle-European bees in Europe

Abstract

The population of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, continues to shrink. The middle-European bee, Apis m. mellifera, is particularly at risk in Europe. The drop in the number of middle-European bees is so huge that the insect is under the threat of extinction. Today, they live on small areas covered by the protection of genetic resources. Apis m. mellifera is protected mainly in areas where this species evolved: for instance, in Switzerland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland or Russia. This paper presents methods used to preserve and protect Apis m. mellifera in Europe and research on the descent and original extent of the species. It also reviews opportunities created by the implementation of various types of programs for the protection of genetic resources of Apis m. mellifera and ways of employing morphological and genetic studies for the conservative breeding of middle-European bees. The paper demonstrates that the protection of Apis m. mellifera in Europe is necessary, considering the decreasing size, and the threat of hybridization, of this population. The use of the morphometric evaluation and DNA analysis methods have made it possible to track and compare likely directions of propagation of genes in the long history of evolution of bees. Moreover, these methods have given us better insight into the ongoing processes. The current use of these methods for reliable identification of bee breeds helps to protect Apis m. mellifera more effectively. European programs for the protection of genetic resources of bees are based on the following two main paradigms: the breeding of local isolated populations on islands and establishment of protected inland areas for the conservative breeding of contained swarms. All these programs share and are successful in achieving the goal that consists in the preservation of the characteristics of Apis m. mellifera as unchanged as possible, with retention of the maximum genetic diversity of the species.

The Role of Beekeeping in the Generation of Goods and Services: The Interrelation between Environmental, Socioeconomic, and Sociocultural Utilities

“…In general, the ecosystem services associated with beekeeping include pollination and habitat conservation [31,32]. However, there is a new trend that includes economic, environmental, and cultural ecosystem services [5,10].…”

“…According to Vrabcová and Hájek [9], approximately 90% of the benefits of honey bees afforded to mankind lie precisely in their pollination capacity. Consequently, beekeeping and honey bees are providers of ecosystem services [31,32] and thus generate public goods (i.e., those that are characterized by being non-excludable), which means that if the product is offered to one person, it is offered to all others (e.g., a landscape of great diversity) and is non-rivalrous in terms of consumption (i.e., if one person consumes this public good, it does not prevent another from also consuming it). This gives rise to the existence of people who, without having participated in the transaction or contributed to its financing, benefit from it (free-riders), mostly derived from positive externalities (collateral effects derived from the existence of a public good).…”

“…Honey bees can be sold as live beekeeping materials to create a new colony [80], and in this case, they constitute a product in themselves. This is also the case when they are sold or leased to supplement pollination services performed by wild pollinators and are used to pollinate horticultural crops and fruit trees [31], thus helping to increase productivity, quality, profitability, and farmers' incomes [6,55]. In this case, pollination becomes a production practice [81].…”