Estimating the Density of Honeybee Colonies across Their Natural Range to Fill the Gap in Pollinator Decline Censuses |
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Authors: | RODOLFO JAFFÉ VINCENT DIETEMANN MIKE H ALLSOPP CECILIA COSTA ROBIN M CREWE RAFFAELE DALL’OLIO PILAR DE LA RÚA MOGBEL A A EL‐NIWEIRI INGEMAR FRIES NIKOLA KEZIC MICHAEL S MEUSEL ROBERT J PAXTON TAHER SHAIBI ECKART STOLLE ROBIN FA MORITZ |
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Affiliation: | 1. Institut für Biologie, Martin‐Luther‐Universit?t Halle‐Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 4, Halle (Saale) 06120, Germany;2. Swiss Bee Research Center, Agroscope Liebefeld‐Posieux Research Station ALP, Schwarzenburgstrasse 161, CH‐3003 Bern, Switzerland;3. Social Insect Research Group, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa;4. Honeybee Research Section, ARC‐Plant Protection Research Institute, Private Bag X5017, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa;5. CRA‐API, Unità di Ricerca di Apicoltura e Bachicoltura. Via di Saliceto 80, Bologna 40128, Italy;6. área de Biología Animal, Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain;7. Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden;8. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetosimunska 25, HR‐10000 Zagreb, Croatia;9. Discipline of Genetics, School of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Microbiology, University of KwaZulu‐Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Private Bag XO1, Scottsville 3209, South Africa;10. School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, United Kingdom |
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Abstract: | Abstract: Although pollinator declines are a global biodiversity threat, the demography of the western honeybee (Apis mellifera) has not been considered by conservationists because it is biased by the activity of beekeepers. To fill this gap in pollinator decline censuses and to provide a broad picture of the current status of honeybees across their natural range, we used microsatellite genetic markers to estimate colony densities and genetic diversity at different locations in Europe, Africa, and central Asia that had different patterns of land use. Genetic diversity and colony densities were highest in South Africa and lowest in Northern Europe and were correlated with mean annual temperature. Confounding factors not related to climate, however, are also likely to influence genetic diversity and colony densities in honeybee populations. Land use showed a significantly negative influence over genetic diversity and the density of honeybee colonies over all sampling locations. In Europe honeybees sampled in nature reserves had genetic diversity and colony densities similar to those sampled in agricultural landscapes, which suggests that the former are not wild but may have come from managed hives. Other results also support this idea: putative wild bees were rare in our European samples, and the mean estimated density of honeybee colonies on the continent closely resembled the reported mean number of managed hives. Current densities of European honeybee populations are in the same range as those found in the adverse climatic conditions of the Kalahari and Saharan deserts, which suggests that beekeeping activities do not compensate for the loss of wild colonies. Our findings highlight the importance of reconsidering the conservation status of honeybees in Europe and of regarding beekeeping not only as a profitable business for producing honey, but also as an essential component of biodiversity conservation. |
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Keywords: | Apis mellifera beekeeping ecosystem functioning honeybee conservation land use pollinator decline apicultura Apis mellifera conservació n de abejas declive de polinizadores funcionamiento del ecosistema uso de suelo |
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