First large-scale study reveals important losses of managed honey bee and stingless bee colonies in Latin America.

Over the last quarter century, increasing honey bee colony losses motivated standardized large-scale surveys of managed honey bees (Apis mellifera), particularly in Europe and the United States. Here we present the first large-scale standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 beekeepers and 165 meliponiculturists participated in the 2-year survey (2016-2017 and 2017-2018). On average, 30.4% of honey bee colonies and 39.6% of stingless bee colonies were lost per year across the region. Summer losses were higher than winter losses in stingless bees (30.9% and 22.2%, respectively) but not in honey bees (18.8% and 20.6%, respectively). Colony loss increased with operation size during the summer in both honey bees and stingless bees and decreased with operation size during the winter in stingless bees. Furthermore, losses differed significantly between countries and across years for both beekeepers and meliponiculturists. Overall, winter losses of honey bee colonies in Latin America (20.6%) position this region between Europe (12.5%) and the United States (40.4%). These results highlight the magnitude of bee colony losses occurring in the region and suggest difficulties in maintaining overall colony health and economic survival for beekeepers and meliponiculturists.

Niche analyses and the potential distribution of four invasive bumblebees worldwide.

The introduction of bees for agricultural production in distinct parts of the world and poor management have led to invasion processes that affect biodiversity, significantly impacting native species. Different Bombus species with invasive potential have been recorded spreading in different regions worldwide, generating ecological and economic losses. We applied environmental niche and potential distribution analyses to four species of the genus Bombus to evaluate the similarities and differences between their native and invaded ranges. We found that B. impatiens has an extended environmental niche, going from dry environmental conditions in the native range to warmer and wetter conditions in the invaded range. Bombus ruderatus also exhibited an extended environmental niche with drier and warmer conditions in the invaded range than in its native range. Bombus subterraneus expanded its environmental niche from cooler and wetter conditions in the native range to drier and warmer conditions in the invaded range. Finally, B. terrestris showed the most significant variation in the environmental niche, extending to areas with similar and different environmental conditions from its native range. The distribution models agreed with the known distributions for the four Bombus species, presenting geographic areas known to be occupied by each species in different regions worldwide. The niche analysis indicate shifts in the niches from the native to the invaded distribution area of the bee species. Still, niche similarities were observed in the areas of greatest suitability in the potential distribution for B. ruderatus, B. subterraneus, and B. terrestris, and to a lesser degree in the same areas with B. impatiens. These species require similar environmental conditions as in their native ranges to be established in their introduced ranges. Still, they can adapt to changes in temperature and humidity, allowing them to expand their ranges into new climatic conditions.

Managed honeybees decrease pollination limitation in self-compatible but not in self-incompatible crops.

Modern agriculture is becoming increasingly pollinator-dependent. However, the global stock of domesticated honeybees is growing at a slower rate than its demand, while wild bees are declining worldwide. This uneven scenario of high pollinator demand and low pollinator availability can translate into increasing pollination limitation, reducing the yield of pollinator-dependent crops. However, overall assessments of crop pollination limitation and the factors determining its magnitude are missing. Based on 52 published studies including 30 crops, we conducted a meta-analysis comparing crop yield in pollen-supplemented versus open-pollinated flowers. We assessed the overall magnitude of pollination limitation and whether this magnitude was influenced by (i) the presence/absence of managed honeybees, (ii) crop compatibility system (i.e. self-compatible/self-incompatible) and (iii) the interaction between these two factors. Overall, pollen supplementation increased yield by approximately 34%, indicating sizable pollination limitation. Deployment of managed honeybees and self-compatibility were associated with lower pollination limitation. Particularly, active honeybee management decreased pollination limitation among self-compatible but apparently not among self-incompatible crops. These findings indicate that current pollination regimes are, in general, inadequate to maximize crop yield, even when including managed honeybees, and stress the need of transforming the pollination management paradigm of agricultural landscapes.

Plant-pollinator conservation from the perspective of systems-ecology.

Ecosystems are interconnected and complex, but conservation has often focused on rehabilitating individual species. A systems-ecology approach aims to support overall structure and maintain functions of the whole ecosystem, and may be especially pertinent for mutualistic plant-pollinator communities. This approach focuses on species interactions as the units to be conserved within the larger ecosystem. Analyzing species interactions is a more holistic approach because it incorporates a broader web of organisms, and considers the plethora of potential indirect influences from interacting partners. In this article, we suggest pollinator researchers focus on plant-pollinator networks to inform conservation programs and best support the coexistence of pollinators and plants within natural and agricultural systems. We propose that a system-ecology perspective is the most promising way to simultaneously improve pollinator conservation, agricultural sustainability, and human well-being.

Global agricultural productivity is threatened by increasing pollinator dependence without a parallel increase in crop diversification.

The global increase in the proportion of land cultivated with pollinator-dependent crops implies increased reliance on pollination services. Yet agricultural practices themselves can profoundly affect pollinator supply and pollination. Extensive monocultures are associated with a limited pollinator supply and reduced pollination, whereas agricultural diversification can enhance both. Therefore, areas where agricultural diversity has increased, or at least been maintained, may better sustain high and more stable productivity of pollinator-dependent crops. Given that >80% of all crops depend, to varying extents, on insect pollination, a global increase in agricultural pollinator dependence over recent decades might have led to a concomitant increase in agricultural diversification. We evaluated whether an increase in the area of pollinator-dependent crops has indeed been associated with an increase in agricultural diversity, measured here as crop diversity, at the global, regional, and country scales for the period 1961-2016. Globally, results show a relatively weak and decelerating rise in agricultural diversity over time that was largely decoupled from the strong and continually increasing trend in agricultural dependency on pollinators. At regional and country levels, there was no consistent relationship between temporal changes in pollinator dependence and crop diversification. Instead, our results show heterogeneous responses in which increasing pollinator dependence for some countries and regions has been associated with either an increase or a decrease in agricultural diversity. Particularly worrisome is a rapid expansion of pollinator-dependent oilseed crops in several countries of the Americas and Asia that has resulted in a decrease in agricultural diversity. In these regions, reliance on pollinators is increasing, yet agricultural practices that undermine pollination services are expanding. Our analysis has thereby identified world regions of particular concern where environmentally damaging practices associated with large-scale, industrial agriculture threaten key ecosystem services that underlie productivity, in addition to other benefits provided by biodiversity.

The costs and benefits of pollinator dependence: empirically based simulations predict raspberry fruit quality.

Globally, agriculture increasingly depends on pollinators to produce many seed and fruit crops. However, what constitutes optimal pollination service for pollinator-dependent crops remains unanswered. We developed a simulation model to identify the optimal pollination service that maximizes fruit quality in crops. The model depicts the pollination (i.e., autonomous self-fertilization, pollen deposition) and post-pollination (i.e., pollen germination, and time from germination to ovule fertilization) processes leading to fruit and seed set and allows for negative flower-pollinator interactions, specifically pistil damage. We parameterized and validated the model based on empirical observations of commercial raspberry in western Argentina. To assess the effects of pollination intensity for fruit production, we conducted simulations over a range of visit number per flower by the two primary managed pollinators worldwide, Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris. Simulations identified that ~15-35 visits per flower by A. mellifera or ~10-20 visits by B. terrestris provide adequate pollination and maximize raspberry fruit quality (i.e., estimated as the proportion of ovules that develop into drupelets). Visits in excess of these optima reduce simulated fruit quality, and flowers receiving >670 honey bee visits or >470 bumble bee visits would produce fruits of poorer quality than those receiving no bee visits. The simulations generated consistent, unbiased predictions of fruit quality for 12 raspberry fields. This model could be adapted easily to other animal-pollinated crops and used to guide efficient pollinator management in any agro-ecosystem.

Global decline of bumblebees is phylogenetically structured and inversely related to species range size and pathogen incidence.

Conservation biology can profit greatly from incorporating a phylogenetic perspective into analyses of patterns and drivers of species extinction risk. We applied such an approach to analyse patterns of bumblebee (Bombus) decline. We assembled a database representing approximately 43% of the circa 260 globally known species, which included species extinction risk assessments following the International Union fo Conservation of Nature Red List categories and criteria, and information on species traits presumably associated with bumblebee decline. We quantified the strength of phylogenetic signal in decline, range size, tongue length and parasite presence. Overall, about one-third of the assessed bumblebees are declining and declining species are not randomly distributed across the Bombus phylogeny. Susceptible species were over-represented in the subgenus Thoracobombus (approx. 64%) and under-represented in the subgenus Pyrobombus (approx. 6%). Phylogenetic logistic regressions revealed that species with small geographical ranges and those in which none of three internal parasites were reported (i.e. Crithidia bombi, Nosema spp. or Locustacarus buchneri) were particularly vulnerable. Bumblebee evolutionary history will be deeply eroded if most species from threatened clades, particularly those stemming from basal nodes, become finally extinct. The habitat of species with restricted distribution should be protected and the importance of pathogen tolerance/resistance as mechanisms to deal with pathogens needs urgent research.

Predicting bee community responses to land-use changes: Effects of geographic and taxonomic biases.

Land-use change and intensification threaten bee populations worldwide, imperilling pollination services. Global models are needed to better characterise, project, and mitigate bees' responses to these human impacts. The available data are, however, geographically and taxonomically unrepresentative; most data are from North America and Western Europe, overrepresenting bumblebees and raising concerns that model results may not be generalizable to other regions and taxa. To assess whether the geographic and taxonomic biases of data could undermine effectiveness of models for conservation policy, we have collated from the published literature a global dataset of bee diversity at sites facing land-use change and intensification, and assess whether bee responses to these pressures vary across 11 regions (Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe; North, Central and South America; Australia and New Zealand; South East Asia; Middle and Southern Africa) and between bumblebees and other bees. Our analyses highlight strong regionally-based responses of total abundance, species richness and Simpson's diversity to land use, caused by variation in the sensitivity of species and potentially in the nature of threats. These results suggest that global extrapolation of models based on geographically and taxonomically restricted data may underestimate the true uncertainty, increasing the risk of ecological surprises.

Sterile flowers increase pollinator attraction and promote female success in the Mediterranean herb Leopoldia comosa.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Large floral displays have opposing consequences for animal-pollinated angiosperms: they attract more pollinators but also enable elevated among-flower self-pollination (geitonogamy). The presence of sterile flowers as pollinator signals may enhance attraction while allowing displays of fewer open fertile flowers, limiting geitonogamy. The simultaneous contributions of fertile and non-fertile display components to pollinator attraction and reproductive output remain undetermined. METHODS: The simultaneous effects of the presence of sterile flowers and fertile-flower display size in two populations of Leopoldia comosa were experimentally assessed. Pollinator behaviour, pollen removal and deposition, and fruit and seed production were compared between intact plants and plants with sterile flowers removed. KEY RESULTS: The presence of sterile flowers almost tripled pollinator attraction, supplementing the positive effect of the number of fertile flowers on the number of bees approaching inflorescences. Although attracted bees visited more flowers on larger inflorescences, the number visited did not additionally depend on the presence of sterile flowers. The presence of sterile flowers improved all aspects of plant performance, the magnitude of plant benefit being context dependent. During weather favourable to pollinators, the presence of sterile flowers increased pollen deposition on stigmas of young flowers, but this difference was not evident in older flowers, probably because of autonomous self-pollination in poorly visited flowers. Total pollen receipt per stigma decreased with increasing fertile display size. In the population with more pollinators, the presence of sterile flowers increased fruit number but not seed set or mass, whereas in the other population sterile flowers enhanced seeds per fruit, but not fruit production. These contrasts are consistent with dissimilar cross-pollination and autonomous self-pollination, coupled with the strong predispersal inbreeding depression exhibited by L. comosa populations. CONCLUSIONS: Sterile flowers enrich pollination quality by promoting pollen export and import, while limiting the mating costs of geitonogamy associated with large fertile displays.

Displacement of a native by an alien bumblebee: lower pollinator efficiency overcome by overwhelmingly higher visitation frequency.

Biological invasions might constitute a major threat to mutualisms. Introduced pollinators might competitively displace their native counterparts, which in turn affects the pollination of native plants, if native and alien visitors differ in pollinator effectiveness. Since its invasion in 1994 into south-west Argentina, the introduced European bumblebee Bombus ruderatus has continuously increased in abundance, along with a simultaneous decrease in the abundance of the native Bombus dahlbomii. The latter is the only native bumblebee species of the temperate forests of southern South America, and the main pollinator of the endemic herb Alstroemeria aurea. In order to evaluate the impact of the ongoing displacement of the native by the alien bumblebee, we compared the pollinator effectiveness (i.e., the combination of pollinator efficiency per visit and visitation frequency) between both bumblebee species, as well as related pollinator traits that might account for potential differences in pollinator efficiency. Native Bombus dahlbomii, which has a larger body and spent more time per flower, was the more efficient pollinator compared to Bombus ruderatus, both in terms of quantity and quality of pollen deposited per visit. However, Bombus ruderatus was a much more frequent flower visitor than Bombus dahlbomii. As a consequence, Bombus ruderatus is nowadays a more effective pollinator of A. aurea than its native congener. Despite the lack of evidence of an increase in seed set at the population level, comparisons with historical records of Bombus dahlbomii abundances prior to Bombus ruderatus' invasion suggest that the overall pollination intensity of A. aurea might in fact have risen as a consequence of this invasion. Field experiments like these, that incorporate the natural variation in abundance of native and alien species, are powerful means to demonstrate that the consequences of invasions are more complex than previous manipulated and controlled experiments have suggested.

Invasive mutualists erode native pollination webs.

Plant-animal mutualisms are characterized by weak or asymmetric mutual dependences between interacting species, a feature that could increase community stability. If invasive species integrate into mutualistic webs, they may alter web structure, with consequences for species persistence. However, the effect of alien mutualists on the architecture of plant-pollinator webs remains largely unexplored. We analyzed the extent of mutual dependency between interacting species, as a measure of mutualism strength, and the connectivity of 10 paired plant-pollinator webs, eight from forests of the southern Andes and two from oceanic islands, with different incidences of alien species. Highly invaded webs exhibited weaker mutualism than less-invaded webs. This potential increase in network stability was the result of a disproportionate increase in the importance and participation of alien species in the most asymmetric interactions. The integration of alien mutualists did not alter overall network connectivity, but links were transferred from generalist native species to super-generalist alien species during invasion. Therefore, connectivity among native species declined in highly invaded webs. These modifications in the structure of pollination webs, due to dominance of alien mutualists, can leave many native species subject to novel ecological and evolutionary dynamics.