Climate and human influence shape the interactive role of the honeybee in pollination networks beyond its native distributional range

Abstract

Empirical evidence has shown that introduced honeybees, Apis mellifera L., can change the structural organization of ecological networks involving pollinators and flowering plants. In this case, studies have shown that A. mellifera is highly connected within networks (i.e., high interactive role) mainly due to its high abundances, long colony lifetime, generalist diet, and great capacity of spread and adaptation to new environments. However, there is little knowledge on how the interactive role of A. mellifera in these flower-visitor networks changes spatially and the potential correlates of such variation across ecological and geographical gradients worldwide. In this study, we evaluated how native and exotic distribution ranges, local climate, human influence (i.e., anthropogenic disturbance), and latitude shape the interactive role of the honeybee in plant-floral visitor networks globally. To achieve that, we compiled 95 weighted plant-floral visitor networks encompassing ca. 87 degrees of latitude and 227 degrees of longitude across the globe. We found that the interactive role of A. mellifera is higher in its exotic range than in the native distributional range and positively associated with mean annual temperature and precipitation. Further, the interactive role of A. mellifera was high at intermediate values of global human influence and increased with latitude. Our findings help us to understand how different drivers related to rapid global change could affect the capacity of A. mellifera to colonize and increase its impact on other pollinator species in different environments.