Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
Laboratory of Molecular Entomology and Bee Pathology, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 12;11(1):3755. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-82540-6.
Wild bees are in decline on a local to global scale. The presence of managed honey bees can lead to competition for resources with wild bee species, which has not been investigated so far for human-modified landscapes. In this study we assess if managed honey bee hive density influence nest development (biomass) of bumble bees, an important trait affecting fitness. We hypothesize that domesticated honey bees can negatively affect Bombus terrestris nest development in human-modified landscapes. In Flanders, Belgium, where such landscapes are dominantly present, we selected 11 locations with landscape metrics ranging from urban to agricultural. The bee hive locations were mapped and each location contained one apiary dense (AD) and one apiary sparse (AS) study site (mean density of 7.6 ± 5.7 managed honey bee hives per km in AD sites). We assessed the effect of apiary density on the reproduction of reared B. terrestris nests. Reared B. terrestris nests had more biomass increase over 8 weeks in apiary sparse (AS) sites compared to nests located in apiary dense (AD) sites. This effect was mainly visible in urban locations, where nest in AS sites have 99.25 ± 60.99 g more biomass increase compared to nest in urban AD sites. Additionally, we found that managed bumble bee nests had higher biomass increase in urban locations. We conclude that the density of bee hives is a factor to consider in regard to interspecific competition between domesticated honey bees and bumble bees.
野生蜜蜂在局部到全球范围内都在减少。由于管理不善的蜜蜂可能会与野生蜜蜂物种争夺资源，因此到目前为止，还没有对人类改造的景观进行调查。在这项研究中，我们评估了管理不善的蜜蜂蜂箱密度是否会影响熊蜂的巢穴发育（生物量），这是一个影响适应度的重要特征。我们假设家养蜜蜂会对人类改造景观中的熊蜂巢穴发育产生负面影响。在比利时的佛兰德地区，这种景观占主导地位，我们选择了 11 个具有从城市到农业的景观特征的地点。记录了蜜蜂蜂巢的位置，每个位置都包含一个密集（AD）和一个稀疏（AS）的养蜂场研究点（AD 点的平均管理蜜蜂蜂巢密度为 7.6±5.7 个/公里）。我们评估了养蜂场密度对饲养的熊蜂巢穴繁殖的影响。在养蜂场稀疏（AS）地点，饲养的熊蜂巢穴在 8 周内的生物量增加量比在养蜂场密集（AD）地点的巢穴多。这种影响主要在城市地区可见，AS 地点的巢穴比城市 AD 地点的巢穴多增加了 99.25±60.99 克生物量。此外，我们发现管理不善的熊蜂巢穴在城市地区的生物量增加更高。我们得出结论，蜂箱密度是考虑家养蜜蜂和熊蜂之间种间竞争的一个因素。
