Negative impacts of dominance on bee communities: Does the influence of invasive honey bees differ from native bees?

Abstract

Invasive species can reach high abundances and dominate native environments. One of the most impressive examples of ecological invasions is the spread of the African sub-species of the honey bee throughout the Americas, starting from its introduction in a single locality in Brazil. The invasive honey bee is expected to more negatively impact bee community abundance and diversity than native dominant species, but this has not been tested previously. We developed a comprehensive and systematic bee sampling scheme, using a protocol deploying 11,520 pan traps across regions and crops for three years in Brazil. We found that invasive honey bees are now the single most dominant bee species. Such dominance has not only negative consequences for abundance and species richness of native bees but also for overall bee abundance (i.e., strong "numerical" effects of honey bees). Contrary to expectations, honey bees did not have stronger negative impacts than other native bees achieving similar levels of dominance (i.e., lack of negative "identity" effects of honey bees). These effects were remarkably consistent across crop species, seasons and years, and were independent from land-use effects. Dominance could be a proxy of bee community degradation and more generally of the severity of ecological invasions.

Short Communication: Impact of introduction of managed honey bee colony on wild bee diversity and abundance in an agroecosystem in Indonesia

“…Research from the United States found an overall decrease in fruit production when A. mellifera colonies were introduced to agricultural fields, suggesting suppression of wild bee populations and thus their pollination services (Angelella et al 2021). These varied results likely reflect the overall availability of floral food resources among study areas, where negative effects on wild bee populations are more likely to occur when resources are limited (Garibaldi et al 2021). In our study, flower number and mean flower cover were positively correlated with bee species richness and abundance in all treatments and all three flowering periods.…”

“…Although many studies have assessed the impact of managed honeybee colonies on wild bees in agricultural settings (Barcala et al 2019;Kline and Joshi 2020;Angelella et al 2021;Garibaldi et al 2021) the results have been somewhat inconsistent. The majority of studies have reported negative effects of colony introduction (Mallinger et al 2017).…”

Supplemental Stingless Bee Pollination in Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.): An Assessment of Impacts on Native Pollinators and Crop Yield

“…Non-native species can reach high abundance and dominate in native environments. The dominance of the western honeybees has negative consequences for the abundance and species richness of native pollinators (Garibaldi et al, 2021). They can also alter the foraging behavior of native pollinators (Layek et al, 2021b).…”

Seasonal dynamics of competition between honey bees and wild bees in a protected Mediterranean scrubland

“…While several recent studies have shown the consequences of competition between managed honey bees and wild bees within plant–pollinator networks in agricultural, urban and natural landscapes (Magrach et al 2017, Ropars et al 2019, Valido et al 2019, Garibaldi et al 2021, Lázaro et al 2021, Rasmussen et al 2021), the temporal dimension of this competition and its relative impact on different groups of pollinators remains to be fully understood. Indeed, plant–pollinator networks have been recently emphasized to vary greatly over time (CaraDonna et al 2017), which could strongly affect competition among honey bees, and between honey bees and other pollinator species.…”