Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National Parks
Despite its global importance for the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and its contribution in providing economic benefits to human society, the clade Anthophila is in severe decline worldwide. In this context, counteracting the decline in Apoidea is of fundamental importance. Honey bee density and...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | Conservation |
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| author | Chiara Benedetta Boni Francesca Coppola Simona Sagona Marino Quaranta Simone Flaminio Paolo Biella Stefano Tempesti Anna Marta Lazzeri Marco Di Santo Antonio Felicioli |
| author_facet | Chiara Benedetta Boni Francesca Coppola Simona Sagona Marino Quaranta Simone Flaminio Paolo Biella Stefano Tempesti Anna Marta Lazzeri Marco Di Santo Antonio Felicioli |
| author_sort | Chiara Benedetta Boni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite its global importance for the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and its contribution in providing economic benefits to human society, the clade Anthophila is in severe decline worldwide. In this context, counteracting the decline in Apoidea is of fundamental importance. Honey bee density and beekeeping are believed to negatively impact wild bee populations, mostly through competition for food sources. In this study, interspecific trophic competition was investigated using the still seldom exploited approach of a palynological analysis combined with a metabarcoding analysis of the pollen gathered by both managed honey bees and wild bees in three Italian national parks. The entire trophic network was identified as highly specialized (H2′ = 0.933). The results obtained suggest that, overall, wild bee species are sustained by different pollen sources than honey bees. This low sharing of resources could be due to the natural trend occurring in natural populations, where species tend to minimize the competitive overlap through niche differentiation or niche complementarity as a result of coevolution. National parks play a fundamental role in animal and plant species protection and conservation. Therefore, plans should focus on evaluating honey bee densities in the interests of achieving less intensive, more traditional, and sustainable beekeeping, as well as habitat restoration, to promote the survival and reproduction of wild bee populations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c828d4e598d44808bd3261c852f83f86 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2673-7159 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Conservation |
| spelling | doaj-art-c828d4e598d44808bd3261c852f83f862025-08-20T02:11:04ZengMDPI AGConservation2673-71592025-01-0151510.3390/conservation5010005Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National ParksChiara Benedetta Boni0Francesca Coppola1Simona Sagona2Marino Quaranta3Simone Flaminio4Paolo Biella5Stefano Tempesti6Anna Marta Lazzeri7Marco Di Santo8Antonio Felicioli9Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Via Bonanno 6, 56126 Pisa, ItalyCREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Saliceto 80, 40128 Bologna, ItalyCREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Saliceto 80, 40128 Bologna, ItalyZooPlantLab, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza, 2, 20126 Milan, ItalyEnte Parco Nazionale Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna, Via Nefetti, 3, 47018 Santa Sofia, ItalyEnte Parco Nazionale Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise, Viale S. Lucia, 2, 67032 Pescasseroli, ItalyEnte Parco Nazionale della Majella, Via Badia, 28, 67039 Sulmona, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDespite its global importance for the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and its contribution in providing economic benefits to human society, the clade Anthophila is in severe decline worldwide. In this context, counteracting the decline in Apoidea is of fundamental importance. Honey bee density and beekeeping are believed to negatively impact wild bee populations, mostly through competition for food sources. In this study, interspecific trophic competition was investigated using the still seldom exploited approach of a palynological analysis combined with a metabarcoding analysis of the pollen gathered by both managed honey bees and wild bees in three Italian national parks. The entire trophic network was identified as highly specialized (H2′ = 0.933). The results obtained suggest that, overall, wild bee species are sustained by different pollen sources than honey bees. This low sharing of resources could be due to the natural trend occurring in natural populations, where species tend to minimize the competitive overlap through niche differentiation or niche complementarity as a result of coevolution. National parks play a fundamental role in animal and plant species protection and conservation. Therefore, plans should focus on evaluating honey bee densities in the interests of achieving less intensive, more traditional, and sustainable beekeeping, as well as habitat restoration, to promote the survival and reproduction of wild bee populations.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7159/5/1/5bee pasturesinterspecific trophic competitionmanaged beespalynological analysispollen repartitioningprotected areas |
| spellingShingle | Chiara Benedetta Boni Francesca Coppola Simona Sagona Marino Quaranta Simone Flaminio Paolo Biella Stefano Tempesti Anna Marta Lazzeri Marco Di Santo Antonio Felicioli Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National Parks Conservation bee pastures interspecific trophic competition managed bees palynological analysis pollen repartitioning protected areas |
| title | Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National Parks |
| title_full | Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National Parks |
| title_fullStr | Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National Parks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National Parks |
| title_short | Pollen Resource Repartition Between Managed Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i> L. 1758) and Unmanaged Bees in Three Italian National Parks |
| title_sort | pollen resource repartition between managed honey bees i apis mellifera i l 1758 and unmanaged bees in three italian national parks |
| topic | bee pastures interspecific trophic competition managed bees palynological analysis pollen repartitioning protected areas |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7159/5/1/5 |
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