Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372, CNRS & La Rochelle Université, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois, France; LTSER Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sèvre, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France; UMT PrADE, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon, France.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Nov 10;950:175309. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175309. Epub 2024 Aug 5.
Landscape simplification and the loss of semi-natural habitats are identified as important drivers of insect pollinator decline in farmlands, by disrupting the availability of floral resources and facilitating the occurrence of food shortages. Food shortages can lead to accelerated behavioral maturation in honey bees, with potential consequences for colony survival. However, little is known about the magnitude of behavioral maturation mediated by to food shortage under real field conditions, and whether it could be mitigated by the presence of semi-natural habitats. Here, we monitored the lifespan (LSP), age at first exit (AFE), foraging tenure, and foraging intensity of 1035 honey bees along a landscape gradient of semi-natural habitats in farmlands. We found a clear acceleration of behavioral maturation of bees during the food shortage season, with precocity in AFE between 6 and 10 days earlier and reduced LSP by 5 to 9 days, with no effect on foraging tenure or foraging intensity. We also found that higher proportions of semi-natural habitats mitigated behavioral maturation of bees by up to 6 days. Beyond the direct effects on adult bees, we found no delayed effect of larval feeding status on adult life-history traits or foraging behavior. Nevertheless, our results strongly advocate the implementation of policies aimed at increasing the coverage of semi-natural environments (e.g., grasslands, forests, hedgerows) in intensive agricultural landscapes to support honey bee survival and pollinator conservation.
景观简化和半自然生境的丧失被认为是农田中昆虫传粉媒介减少的重要驱动因素，因为它们破坏了花卉资源的可获得性，并促进了食物短缺的发生。食物短缺会导致蜜蜂加速行为成熟，这可能对蜂群的生存产生潜在影响。然而，人们对实际田间条件下由食物短缺引起的行为成熟的程度以及半自然生境的存在是否可以减轻这种成熟程度知之甚少。在这里，我们沿着农田半自然生境的景观梯度，监测了 1035 只蜜蜂的寿命 (LSP)、首次离巢年龄 (AFE)、觅食期限和觅食强度。我们发现，在食物短缺季节，蜜蜂的行为成熟明显加快，AFE 提前了 6-10 天，LSP 缩短了 5-9 天，而觅食期限或觅食强度没有变化。我们还发现，更高比例的半自然生境可以减轻蜜蜂的行为成熟，最多可达 6 天。除了对成蜂的直接影响外，我们还发现幼虫喂养状况对成蜂生活史特征或觅食行为没有延迟影响。然而，我们的研究结果强烈主张实施旨在增加集约农业景观中半自然环境（如草地、森林、树篱）覆盖的政策，以支持蜜蜂的生存和传粉媒介的保护。
