<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Honey bees are globally regarded as important crop pollinators and are also valued for their honey production. They have been introduced on an almost worldwide scale. During recent years, however, several studies argue their possible competition with unmanaged pollinators. Here we examine the possible effects of honey bees on the foraging behaviour of wild bees on Cistus creticus flowers in Northern Greece. We gradually introduced one, five, and eight honey-bee hives per site, each containing ca. 20,000 workers. The visitation frequency and visit duration of wild bees before and after the beehive introductions were measured by flower observation. While the visitation frequencies of wild bees were unaffected, the average time wild bees spent on C. creticus increased with the introduction of the honey-bee hives. Although competition between honey bees and wild bees is often expected, we did not find any clear evidence for significant effects even in honey-bee densities much higher than the European-wide average of 3.1 colonies/km<sup>2</sup>.</p></abstract>

Honey bees are globally regarded as important crop pollinators and are also valued for their honey production. They have been introduced on an almost worldwide scale. During recent years, however, several studies argue their possible competition with unmanaged pollinators. Here we examine the possible effects of honey bees on the foraging behaviour of wild bees on Cistus creticus flowers in Northern Greece. We gradually introduced one, five, and eight honey-bee hives per site, each containing ca. 20,000 workers. The visitation frequency and visit duration of wild bees before and after the beehive introductions were measured by flower observation. While the visitation frequencies of wild bees were unaffected, the average time wild bees spent on C. creticus increased with the introduction of the honey-bee hives. Although competition between honey bees and wild bees is often expected, we did not find any clear evidence for significant effects even in honey-bee densities much higher than the European-wide average of 3.1 colonies/km2.

Impact of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) density on wild bee foraging behaviour

Laboratory of Apiculture-Sericulture, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Laboratory of Biogeography and Ecology, Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, Greece

Journal of Apicultural Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Impact of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) density on wild bee foraging behaviour"}

Honey bees are globally regarded as important crop pollinators and are also valued for their honey production. They have been introduced on an almost worldwide...

Impact of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) density on wild bee foraging behaviour

Published Online: Jun 03, 2016

Page range: 49 - 62

Received: Aug 04, 2015

Accepted: Feb 27, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jas-2016-0007

Keywords
Apis mellifera, Cistus creticus, competition, Mediterranean, native bees

© by Andreas Thrasyvoulou

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Impact of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) density on wild bee foraging behaviour

Published Online: Jun 03, 2016

Page range: 49 - 62

Received: Aug 04, 2015

Accepted: Feb 27, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jas-2016-0007

KeywordsApis mellifera, Cistus creticus, competition, Mediterranean, native bees

© by Andreas Thrasyvoulou

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Apis mellifera, Cistus creticus, competition, Mediterranean, native bees