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Dominance of honey bees is negatively associated with wild bee diversity in commercial apple orchards regardless of management practices

Timothy Weekers, Leon Marshall, Nicolas Leclercq, Thomas James Wood, Diego Cejas, Bianca Drepper, Louise Hutchinson, Denis Michez, Jean-Marc Molenberg, Guy Smagghe (UGent) , et al.
(2022) AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT. 323.
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Abstract
Commercial apple production relies on managed honey bees (Apis mellifera) for pollination, and on intensive management for pest control. Previous studies have highlighted the potentially detrimental effects of intensive crop management on wild bee diversity in agroecosystems, potentially jeopardizing the pollination services they provide. However, the extent to which honey bee dominance and crop management interact under field-realistic conditions and drive the structure of wild bee assemblages has not been investigated so far. In this study, we measured species richness, as well as the functional and phylogenetic diversity of wild bee assemblages in 36 paired organic and non-organic apple orchards during their flowering season and along a geographic gradient across western Europe. Our results show a strong significant and negative association between honey bee dominance and all wild bee diversity metrics, regardless of local management. Semi-natural habitats had a significant and positive effect on functional diversity, while urbanization and crop cover around the orchards showed no effect on all measured diversity metrics. A greater number of species exhibited less common, or frequent, combinations of functional traits at sites with high honey bee dominance, especially larger bee species with longer tongues. Collectively, we show that wild bee diversity decreases with increasing honey bee dominance, and that this negative association is not buffered by alternative (i.e., organic) management practices in commercial apple orchards. Although organic farming can bring about biodiversity benefits, our study demonstrates that, in the context of commercial apple production, other measures are needed to enhance and harness biodiversity for sustainable and profitable crop production. In particular, a lowered reliance on honey bees and a redesign of orchards through configurational crop heterogeneity and/or the restoration of in-field semi-natural elements are required beyond agricultural input substitution.
Keywords
Pollinator, Organic, Diversity, Agroecology, Conservation, Management, FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY, POLLINATION SERVICES, SPECIES RICHNESS, CROP YIELD, FRUIT-SET, BIODIVERSITY, LANDSCAPES, COMMUNITIES, IMPACTS, TRENDS

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Citation

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MLA
Weekers, Timothy, et al. “Dominance of Honey Bees Is Negatively Associated with Wild Bee Diversity in Commercial Apple Orchards Regardless of Management Practices.” AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, vol. 323, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107697.
APA
Weekers, T., Marshall, L., Leclercq, N., Wood, T. J., Cejas, D., Drepper, B., … Vereecken, N. J. (2022). Dominance of honey bees is negatively associated with wild bee diversity in commercial apple orchards regardless of management practices. AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107697
Chicago author-date
Weekers, Timothy, Leon Marshall, Nicolas Leclercq, Thomas James Wood, Diego Cejas, Bianca Drepper, Louise Hutchinson, et al. 2022. “Dominance of Honey Bees Is Negatively Associated with Wild Bee Diversity in Commercial Apple Orchards Regardless of Management Practices.” AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT 323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107697.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Weekers, Timothy, Leon Marshall, Nicolas Leclercq, Thomas James Wood, Diego Cejas, Bianca Drepper, Louise Hutchinson, Denis Michez, Jean-Marc Molenberg, Guy Smagghe, Peter Vandamme, and Nicolas J. Vereecken. 2022. “Dominance of Honey Bees Is Negatively Associated with Wild Bee Diversity in Commercial Apple Orchards Regardless of Management Practices.” AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT 323. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107697.
Vancouver
1.
Weekers T, Marshall L, Leclercq N, Wood TJ, Cejas D, Drepper B, et al. Dominance of honey bees is negatively associated with wild bee diversity in commercial apple orchards regardless of management practices. AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT. 2022;323.
IEEE
[1]
T. Weekers et al., “Dominance of honey bees is negatively associated with wild bee diversity in commercial apple orchards regardless of management practices,” AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, vol. 323, 2022.
@article{8739607,
  abstract     = {{Commercial apple production relies on managed honey bees (Apis mellifera) for pollination, and on intensive management for pest control. Previous studies have highlighted the potentially detrimental effects of intensive crop management on wild bee diversity in agroecosystems, potentially jeopardizing the pollination services they provide. However, the extent to which honey bee dominance and crop management interact under field-realistic conditions and drive the structure of wild bee assemblages has not been investigated so far. In this study, we measured species richness, as well as the functional and phylogenetic diversity of wild bee assemblages in 36 paired organic and non-organic apple orchards during their flowering season and along a geographic gradient across western Europe. Our results show a strong significant and negative association between honey bee dominance and all wild bee diversity metrics, regardless of local management. Semi-natural habitats had a significant and positive effect on functional diversity, while urbanization and crop cover around the orchards showed no effect on all measured diversity metrics. A greater number of species exhibited less common, or frequent, combinations of functional traits at sites with high honey bee dominance, especially larger bee species with longer tongues. Collectively, we show that wild bee diversity decreases with increasing honey bee dominance, and that this negative association is not buffered by alternative (i.e., organic) management practices in commercial apple orchards. Although organic farming can bring about biodiversity benefits, our study demonstrates that, in the context of commercial apple production, other measures are needed to enhance and harness biodiversity for sustainable and profitable crop production. In particular, a lowered reliance on honey bees and a redesign of orchards through configurational crop heterogeneity and/or the restoration of in-field semi-natural elements are required beyond agricultural input substitution.}},
  articleno    = {{107697}},
  author       = {{Weekers, Timothy and Marshall, Leon and Leclercq, Nicolas and Wood, Thomas James and Cejas, Diego and Drepper, Bianca and Hutchinson, Louise and Michez, Denis and Molenberg, Jean-Marc and Smagghe, Guy and Vandamme, Peter and Vereecken, Nicolas J.}},
  issn         = {{0167-8809}},
  journal      = {{AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT}},
  keywords     = {{Pollinator,Organic,Diversity,Agroecology,Conservation,Management,FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY,POLLINATION SERVICES,SPECIES RICHNESS,CROP YIELD,FRUIT-SET,BIODIVERSITY,LANDSCAPES,COMMUNITIES,IMPACTS,TRENDS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{10}},
  title        = {{Dominance of honey bees is negatively associated with wild bee diversity in commercial apple orchards regardless of management practices}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107697}},
  volume       = {{323}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}
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