Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Competition between managed honeybees and wild bumblebees depends on landscape context

Herbertsson, Lina LU ; Lindström, Sandra A M LU orcid ; Rundlöf, Maj LU orcid ; Bommarco, Riccardo LU and Smith, Henrik G. LU (2016) In Basic and Applied Ecology 17(7). p.609-616
Abstract

Honeybees might outcompete wild bees by depleting common resources, possibly more so in simplified landscapes where flower-rich habitats have been lost. We tested this by experimentally adding honeybee hives to nine sites while ensuring that ten additional sites were free from hives. The landscape surrounding each geographically separated site either held low (homogeneous landscape) or high (heterogeneous landscape) proportions of semi-natural grassland. Adding honeybees suppressed bumblebee densities in field borders and road verges in homogeneous landscapes whereas no such effect was detected in heterogeneous landscapes. The proportional abundance of bumblebee species with small foraging ranges was lower at honeybee sites than at... (More)

Honeybees might outcompete wild bees by depleting common resources, possibly more so in simplified landscapes where flower-rich habitats have been lost. We tested this by experimentally adding honeybee hives to nine sites while ensuring that ten additional sites were free from hives. The landscape surrounding each geographically separated site either held low (homogeneous landscape) or high (heterogeneous landscape) proportions of semi-natural grassland. Adding honeybees suppressed bumblebee densities in field borders and road verges in homogeneous landscapes whereas no such effect was detected in heterogeneous landscapes. The proportional abundance of bumblebee species with small foraging ranges was lower at honeybee sites than at control sites in heterogeneous landscapes, whereas bumblebee communities in homogeneous landscapes were dominated by a single species with long foraging range irrespective of if honeybees were added or not. We conclude that honeybees can impact bumblebee densities, but that landscape heterogeneity modified this effect.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Apis mellifera, Bombus, Flower resources, Interspecific competition, Landscape complexity, Pollinators
in
Basic and Applied Ecology
volume
17
issue
7
pages
8 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:84992223415
  • wos:000385369000005
ISSN
1439-1791
DOI
10.1016/j.baae.2016.05.001
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5d691f91-0382-4530-a027-01b3d3a9cf40
date added to LUP
2016-11-08 07:26:02
date last changed
2024-03-07 15:19:35
@article{5d691f91-0382-4530-a027-01b3d3a9cf40,
  abstract     = {{<p>Honeybees might outcompete wild bees by depleting common resources, possibly more so in simplified landscapes where flower-rich habitats have been lost. We tested this by experimentally adding honeybee hives to nine sites while ensuring that ten additional sites were free from hives. The landscape surrounding each geographically separated site either held low (homogeneous landscape) or high (heterogeneous landscape) proportions of semi-natural grassland. Adding honeybees suppressed bumblebee densities in field borders and road verges in homogeneous landscapes whereas no such effect was detected in heterogeneous landscapes. The proportional abundance of bumblebee species with small foraging ranges was lower at honeybee sites than at control sites in heterogeneous landscapes, whereas bumblebee communities in homogeneous landscapes were dominated by a single species with long foraging range irrespective of if honeybees were added or not. We conclude that honeybees can impact bumblebee densities, but that landscape heterogeneity modified this effect.</p>}},
  author       = {{Herbertsson, Lina and Lindström, Sandra A M and Rundlöf, Maj and Bommarco, Riccardo and Smith, Henrik G.}},
  issn         = {{1439-1791}},
  keywords     = {{Apis mellifera; Bombus; Flower resources; Interspecific competition; Landscape complexity; Pollinators}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{609--616}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Basic and Applied Ecology}},
  title        = {{Competition between managed honeybees and wild bumblebees depends on landscape context}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2016.05.001}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.baae.2016.05.001}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}