Competition between managed honeybees and wild bumblebees depends on landscape context
(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)
- author
- Herbertsson, Lina LU ; Lindström, Sandra A M LU ; Rundlöf, Maj LU ; Bommarco, Riccardo LU and Smith, Henrik G. LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016-11-01
- 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}}, }