Endosymbionts and honey bee colony losses?

Aebi, Alexandre; Neumann, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2011.06.008

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…It is however also considered to have beneficial symbiotic activity in honey-bees [71]. It is widespread among insects, with high infection rates within populations and also reported for solitary bees [55,72].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse Microbiota Identified in Whole Intact Nest Chambers of the Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis (Linnaeus 1758)

2013

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Microbial activity is known to have profound impact on bee ecology and physiology, both by beneficial and pathogenic effects. Most information about such associations is available for colony-building organisms, and especially the honey bee. There, active manipulations through worker bees result in a restricted diversity of microbes present within the colony environment. Microbial diversity in solitary bee nests remains unstudied, although their larvae face a very different situation compared with social bees by growing up in isolated compartments. Here, we assessed the microbiota present in nests and pre-adults of Osmia bicornis, the red mason bee, by culture-independent pyrosequencing. We found high bacterial diversity not comparable with honey bee colonies. We identified a variety of bacteria potentially with positive or negative interactions for bee larvae. However, most of the other diverse bacteria present in the nests seem to originate from environmental sources through incorporated nest building material and stored pollen. This diversity of microorganisms may cause severe larval mortality and require specific physiological or symbiotic adaptations against microbial threats. They may however also profit from such a diverse environment through gain of mutualistic partners. We conclude that further studies of microbiota interaction in solitary bees will improve the understanding of fitness components and populations dynamics.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse Microbiota Identified in Whole Intact Nest Chambers of the Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis (Linnaeus 1758)

2013

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“…Indeed, managed and wild pollinating species face many common threats (e.g. pathogens [3,4]) and both are subject to significant declines [3,4]. The public and scientific communities are in favor of pollinator conservation, and the active specialists within the scientific realm should cooperate to ensure sustainable pollination services by 'all' pollinators.…”

Section: Lettersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By conflating problems in the honey bee industry with the much more acute conservation issue of losses of native pollinators, honey bee researchers do damage to the whole community of researchers working on bee biology and pollination more generally. [3], although pathogen prevalence can predict native bee decline [4] and endosymbionts may play a role [3]. Instead, they took issue with our first sentence because it extolled honey bees.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Back to the future: Apis versus non-Apis pollination—a response to Ollerton et al.

Aebi

Vaissière²,

vanEngelsdorp

et al. 2012

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

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“…10 Farmers depend on managed honeybees to pollinate crops in many parts of the world, including areas such as North America where honeybees have been introduced to provide this service. 5,8,11 The decline in honeybees, particularly in North America 2,12 and Europe 4,13 , has focused attention on the need for alternative, non-honeybee pollination, particularly the role of wild pollinators and the ecosystem services provided by these pollinators 6 (but see the longstanding debate between Corbet 14,15 and Morse 11 and later between Aebi et al 16,17 and Ollerton et al 18 regarding the relative importance and effectiveness of honeybees versus other species). As a result, current pollination ecosystem services research focuses predominantly on conserving wild pollinators and their habitat within and adjacent to the agricultural matrix.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, our pollinators are exposed to similar environmental pressures that have resulted in declines elsewhere in the world, e.g. habitat transformation or fragmentation 19,20 , loss of diversity and abundance of floral resources 36,37 , inappropriate use of pesticides 36,38 , spread of pests and diseases 17 , and climate change 5 . As a result, it is important to understand the current state of knowledge in South Africa relating to pollination services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollination ecosystem services in South African agricultural systems

et al. 2014

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Insect pollinators, both managed and wild, have become a focus of global scientific, political and media attention because of their apparent decline and the perceived impact of this decline on crop production. Crop pollination by insects is an essential ecosystem service that increases the yield and quality of approximately 35% of crops worldwide. Pollinator declines are a consequence of multiple environmental pressures, e.g. habitat transformation and fragmentation, loss of floral resources, pesticides, pests and diseases, and climate change. Similar environmental pressures are faced in South Africa where there is a high demand for pollination services. In this paper, we synthesise data on the importance of different pollinators as a basis for services to South African crops and on the status of managed honeybees. We also focus on insect pollination services for the Western Cape deciduous fruit industry, which is worth ZAR9800 million per year and is heavily reliant on pollination services from managed honeybees. We discuss landscape and regional level floral resources needed to maintain sufficient numbers of managed honeybee colonies. In summary, the available literature shows a lack of data on diversity and abundance of crop pollinators, and a lack of longterm data to assess declines. We highlight key areas that require research in South Africa and emphasise the critical role of floral resource availability at the landscape and regional scale to sustain pollinators. We conclude that understanding the dynamics of how floral resources are used will help inform how landscapes could be better managed in order to provide long-term sustainable pollination services.

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Endosymbionts and honey bee colony losses?

Cited by 22 publications

References 11 publications

Diverse Microbiota Identified in Whole Intact Nest Chambers of the Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis (Linnaeus 1758)

Diverse Microbiota Identified in Whole Intact Nest Chambers of the Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis (Linnaeus 1758)

Back to the future: Apis versus non-Apis pollination—a response to Ollerton et al.

Pollination ecosystem services in South African agricultural systems

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