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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Estimating the Density of Honeybee Colonies across Their Natural Range to Fill the Gap in Pollinator Decline Censuses
Conservation Biology, Volume 24, No. 2, Year 2010
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Description
Although pollinator declines are a global biodiversity threat, the demography of the western honeybee (Apis mellifera) has not been considered by conservationists because it is biased by the activity of beekeepers. To fill this gap in pollinator decline censuses and to provide a broad picture of the current status of honeybees across their natural range, we used microsatellite genetic markers to estimate colony densities and genetic diversity at different locations in Europe, Africa, and central Asia that had different patterns of land use. Genetic diversity and colony densities were highest in South Africa and lowest in Northern Europe and were correlated with mean annual temperature. Confounding factors not related to climate, however, are also likely to influence genetic diversity and colony densities in honeybee populations. Land use showed a significantly negative influence over genetic diversity and the density of honeybee colonies over all sampling locations. In Europe honeybees sampled in nature reserves had genetic diversity and colony densities similar to those sampled in agricultural landscapes, which suggests that the former are not wild but may have come from managed hives. Other results also support this idea: putative wild bees were rare in our European samples, and the mean estimated density of honeybee colonies on the continent closely resembled the reported mean number of managed hives. Current densities of European honeybee populations are in the same range as those found in the adverse climatic conditions of the Kalahari and Saharan deserts, which suggests that beekeeping activities do not compensate for the loss of wild colonies. Our findings highlight the importance of reconsidering the conservation status of honeybees in Europe and of regarding beekeeping not only as a profitable business for producing honey, but also as an essential component of biodiversity conservation. © 2009 Society for Conservation Biology.
Authors & Co-Authors
Jaffe, Rodolfo Ribbi
Germany, Halle
Martin-luther-universität Halle-wittenberg
Dietemann, Vincent
Germany, Halle
Martin-luther-universität Halle-wittenberg
Switzerland, Posieux
Forschungsanstalt Agroscope Liebefeld-posieux
South Africa, Pretoria
University of Pretoria
Allsopp, Michael H.
South Africa, Pretoria
Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria
Costa, Cecilia
Italy, Bologna
Cra-api
Crewe, Robin M.
South Africa, Pretoria
University of Pretoria
Dall'Olio, Raffaele
Italy, Bologna
Cra-api
De la Rúa, Pilar
Spain, Murcia
Universidad de Murcia
El-Niweiri, Mogbel A.A.
Germany, Halle
Martin-luther-universität Halle-wittenberg
Fries, Ingemar
Sweden, Uppsala
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet
Kezic, Nikola
Croatia, Zagreb
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture
Meusel, Michael S.
South Africa, Durban
University of Kwazulu-natal
Paxton, Robert John
United Kingdom, Belfast
Queen's University Belfast
Shaibi, Taher
Germany, Halle
Martin-luther-universität Halle-wittenberg
Stolle, Eckart
Germany, Halle
Martin-luther-universität Halle-wittenberg
Moritz, Robin F.A.
Germany, Halle
Martin-luther-universität Halle-wittenberg
Statistics
Citations: 161
Authors: 15
Affiliations: 10
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01331.x
ISSN:
08888892
e-ISSN:
15231739
Research Areas
Environmental
Genetics And Genomics
Study Locations
South Africa