Effects of air temperatures on acacia and chestnut honey yields: case study in Italy

Abstract

Global honey production is increasing.In Italy, the two predominant monovarietal honey types are acacia and chestnut . Climate change, with an increase in extreme weather events (including droughts, heat waves and late frosts), impacts both the phenology of melliferous species andhoneybee activity. The aim of this study was to correlate the honey yields of acacia and chestnut in five Italian climatic sub-regions with the thermal extremes during the flowering phases of the two melliferous species.The objective was to understand the impact that these parameters have on yields.The results highlighted differing impacts of thermal extremes on honey yields for acacia and chestnut, respectively . In the acacia, temperature below 4.3C° in the flowering period had a negative impact particularly in the North-West (P<0.01). Instead temperatures above 17.5C° impacted positively in North Italy. In contrast, for chestnut, temperatures above 23.5C° negatively affected honey yields in the North-West. Understanding the interaction between climate, melliferous species and bees is useful for beekeepers towards developing adaptation strategies to climate change with the aim of protecting the yields, income, animal welfare and ecosystem services.