Urbanisation is associated with reduced Nosema sp. infection, higher colony strength and higher richness of foraged pollen in honeybees
File(s)Samuelson2020_Article_UrbanisationIsAssociatedWithRe.pdf (5.13 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Samuelson, Ash
Gill, Richard
Leadbeater, Ellouise
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Bees are vital pollinators, but are faced with numerous threats that include loss of floral resources and emerging parasites amongst others. Urbanisation is a rapidly expanding driver of land-use change that may interact with these two major threats to bees. Here we investigated effects of urbanisation on food store quality and colony health in honeybees (Apis mellifera) by sampling 51 hives in four different land-use categories: urban, suburban, rural open and rural wooded during two seasons (spring and autumn). We found positive effects of urban land use on colony strength and richness of stored pollen morphotypes, alongside lower late-season Nosema sp. infection in urban and suburban colonies. Our results reveal that honeybees exhibit lower colony performance in strength in rural areas, adding to the growing evidence that modern agricultural landscapes can constitute poor habitat for insect pollinators.
Date Issued
2020-10-01
Date Acceptance
2020-02-26
Citation
Apidologie, 2020, 51, pp.746-762
ISSN
0044-8435
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Start Page
746
End Page
762
Journal / Book Title
Apidologie
Volume
51
Copyright Statement
© 2020 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Entomology
urbanisation
Nosemaspp
Varroa destructor
pollen foraging
colony strength
LAND CLASSIFICATION
NEONICOTINOID PESTICIDES
MODEL SELECTION
BEES
NUTRITION
ECOLOGY
TRANSMISSION
CONSERVATION
BIODIVERSITY
BUMBLEBEES
Entomology
0608 Zoology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-04-08