Minahan Danny, Brunet Johanne
B. Triwaks Bee Research Center, Department of Entomology, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 Mar 5;12(3):240675. doi: 10.1098/rsos.240675. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Agricultural landscapes often provide an impoverished environment for bees given their limited plant and pollen diversity. Agri-environment schemes (AES) such as flower strips have been developed to improve the quality of the agricultural environment for bees but their efficacy varies with their composition and, for specific pollinators, with the value of the available plant species. This study provides a detailed report of the pollen collection patterns of two bee species, the western honeybee ( L.) and the common eastern bumble bee ( Cresson), over their foraging season. We compared the floral constancy, pollen richness and diversity of the two bee species, and the pollen morphotypes of bee-collected pollen in relation to resource availability. The honeybee was more flower constant while the bumble bee collected a greater family level diversity of pollen. While both bee species collected similar resources over their entire foraging season, the preferred morphotypes in given surveys differed between bee species. Neither bee species collected resources based on their availability but indicated patterns of preference and avoidance. We discuss how such knowledge can inform the composition of AES to best sustain these pollinators in more impoverished depauperate agricultural landscapes.
鉴于农业景观中植物和花粉的多样性有限，它们往往为蜜蜂提供了一个贫瘠的环境。诸如花卉带之类的农业环境计划（AES）已被开发出来，以改善蜜蜂的农业环境质量，但其效果会因组成成分而有所不同，对于特定的传粉者而言，还会因可用植物物种的价值而有所不同。本研究详细报告了西方蜜蜂（西方蜜蜂）和东部大黄蜂（克氏大黄蜂）这两种蜜蜂在其觅食季节的花粉采集模式。我们比较了这两种蜜蜂的访花专一性、花粉丰富度和多样性，以及与资源可用性相关的蜜蜂采集花粉的花粉形态类型。蜜蜂的访花专一性更强，而大黄蜂采集的花粉在科水平上的多样性更高。虽然这两种蜜蜂在整个觅食季节采集的资源相似，但在特定调查中，它们偏好的形态类型有所不同。这两种蜜蜂都不是根据资源的可用性来采集资源的，而是表现出偏好和回避的模式。我们讨论了这些知识如何为农业环境计划的组成提供信息，以便在更为贫瘠的农业景观中最好地维持这些传粉者。
