Declining honey production and beekeeper adaptation to climate change in Chile

Abstract

Drought severity has pervasive impacts on honey production via direct impacts on water resources and nectar availability. The current mega-drought in Chile has impacts on water resources and forest vigor, particularly in the Mediterranean and Temperate regions where honey production is concentrated. While honey production plays an important role in the local rural economy and providing pollination services to other agricultural activities, studies of the long-term impacts of the mega-drought on honey production are scarce. Here, we evaluate the impact of climate variability on historical changes in honey production in the Mediterranean (32°S–37°S) and Temperate (37°S–41°S) regions of Chile, using annual honey production records of beekeepers together with national records of honey exports. We also used questionnaires and interviews to evaluate beekeeper perceptions regarding the effects of climate change on honey production and adaptation practices in both regions. Results indicated a declining trend in honey production and exports in the last decade, largely related to changes in precipitation and temperature in both regions. Declines in honey production affected 82% of beekeepers, 80% of whom had employed adaptive measures, and 74% considered that these measures were effective. The drier, warmer Mediterranean region showed more severe declines in precipitation and honey production, which beekeepers reported as a main contributing factor to transhumance from the Mediterranean to the Temperate region. This is the first study to show the effects of drought on honey production in Chile, providing a foundation for future climate change adaptation strategies within apiculture.

Advances and knowledge gaps on climate change impacts on honey bees and beekeeping: A systematic review

“…However, despite that net effects were generally negative and neutral for most response variables analyzed, in some cases temperature increase can positively affect food reserves (e.g., increase honey production, advance of honey harvest days, increase hive weight, and increase in nectar volume; Gajardo‐Rojas et al., 2022; Langowska et al., 2017; Pătruică et al., 2019; Bordier et al., 2017; Gil‐Lebrero et al., 2020), reduce diseases (e.g., reduce chalkbrood, decrease deformed wing virus, increase Varroa mite fall; Nürnberger et al., 2019; Rowland et al., 2021; Bordier et al., 2017; Hillayová et al., 2022), affect positively the gene expression (e.g., improve thermo‐tolerance of workers; Al‐Ghzawi et al., 2022), increase the mitochondrial diversity (Cánovas et al., 2014), favor the geographic distribution (Castellanos‐Potenciano et al., 2017), exert positive effect on internal temperature of brood area (Gil‐Lebrero et al., 2020) and brood viability (Cebotari et al., 2019), increase glycogen levels (Bordier et al., 2017), increase the resistance of workers (i.e., daughter of heat‐stressed queens; Al‐Ghzawi et al., 2022), reduce reproduction of some pests (e.g., A. tumida ; Noor‐ul‐Ane & Jung, 2021), affect the plant‐pollinator networks (e.g., increase density, visitation rates, interactive role; Thomson, 2016; Hung et al., 2018; Cruz et al., 2022; Jaboor et al., 2022; Alzate‐Marin et al., 2021), and can increase the critical maximum temperature (Aldea‐Sánchez et al., 2021). Instead, some studies that evaluated the decrease in temperatures suggest an increase in the presence of beneficial bacteria such as Snodgrassella alvi (Castelli et al., 2022), as well as increased levels of protein, glycogen, glycerol, vitellogenin, gene expression, thus increasing the cold tolerance of honey bees (Qin et al., 2019).…”

“…An increase in precipitation could exert negative effects mainly on hive homeostasis (e.g., internal temperature and relative humidity of brood and feed area; Gil‐Lebrero et al., 2020), food reserves (e.g., reduced pollen richness and diversity, colony weight gain, and mean annual yield; Montoya‐Pfeiffer et al., 2021; Gajardo‐Rojas et al., 2022; Quinlan et al., 2022), incidence of diseases (European foulbrood Melissococcus plutonius ; Rowland et al., 2021), changes in microbiome (e.g., decreasing symbionts; Castelli et al., 2022), and plant–pollinator interactions (e.g., decreasing abundance on fields; Thomson, 2016), as well affect the distribution pattern of A. mellifera (Cánovas et al., 2014). Contrarily, a decrease in precipitations can affect the behavior (e.g., early appearance dates; Gordo et al., 2010), reduce honey production and exportations (Gajardo‐Rojas et al., 2022; Gounari et al., 2022), and reduce plant–pollinator interactions (e.g., frequency visiting; Jaworski et al., 2022; Maluf et al., 2022). Furthermore, changes in precipitation patterns are expected to affect the distribution of different pests (Hosni et al., 2022; Tihelka et al., 2021) and diseases (Giliba et al., 2020), as well as produce changes in the geographic distribution of different lineages of A. mellifera (Canovás et al., 2014).…”

“…However, they are starting to be developed in different regions of the world. We documented three studies conducted in Africa (Ahenkan et al., 2020; Newman et al., 2021; Ukamaka & Eberechukwu, 2018), three in Latin America (Gajardo‐Rojas et al., 2022; Gallardo‐López et al., 2021; Lazos‐Chavero et al., 2022), two in Europe (Bislimi, 2022; Vercelli et al., 2021), one in Asia (Buchori et al., 2022), and one in Oceania (Patel et al., 2020). Methodologically, they have followed case study approaches for selecting areas within specific countries, and these cases have been defined based on their relevance to beekeeping production in each country, as well as their interest in studying climate change.…”

“…In general, temperature increase could exert a series of negative impacts on food reserves (e.g., honey production, colony weight gain, and honey sugar composition; Nürnberger et al., 2019; Gajardo‐Rojas et al., 2022; Langowska et al., 2017; Quinlan et al., 2022; Bordier et al., 2017), plant–pollinator interactions (e.g., a decrease in visiting rate and strength of interactions; Rader et al., 2013; Giannini et al., 2015; Bar‐Shai et al., 2022; Maluf et al., 2022), mortality of colonies (e.g., longevity, survival, winter resistance; Medina et al., 2018; McAfee et al., 2020; Aldea‐Sánchez et al., 2021; Cebotari et al., 2019), gene expression (e.g., up‐regulation or expression changes; Ma et al., 2019; McAfee et al., 2020; Bordier et al., 2017; Bach et al., 2021), and thermal biology (e.g., thermal tolerance, desiccation, body temperature; Sánchez‐Echeverría et al., 2019; Burdine & McCluney, 2019; Lima et al., 2019). However, a decrease in temperatures could also result in increased colony mortality (Becsi et al., 2021), affect the immunity (Butolo et al., 2021) and microbiome (Castelli et al., 2022), as well as changes in temperature patterns are expected to contribute to pest spread through changes in thermal suitability (Hosni et al., 2022; Tihelka et al., 2021).…”

“…Methodologically, they have followed case study approaches for selecting areas within specific countries, and these cases have been defined based on their relevance to beekeeping production in each country, as well as their interest in studying climate change. Several research designs have been employed, including qualitative techniques (Ahenkan et al., 2020; Bislimi, 2022; Patel et al., 2020; Vercelli et al., 2021) and quantitative techniques (Buchori et al., 2022; Gallardo‐López et al., 2021; Ukamaka & Eberechukwu, 2018), as well another group has used mixed methods, integrating perception and adaptation issues, also with some analyses of spatial, climatic, and economic indicators (e.g., production, trade, or consumption of apicultural products or services; Newman et al., 2021; Gajardo‐Rojas et al., 2022; Lazos‐Chavero et al., 2022). Through these studies, climate change was perceived as a negative factor or threat to the development of apiculture in several regions, combined with anthropogenic factors such as land‐use changes and pesticide use.…”