Abstract
African honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) dramatically changed the South American beekeeping industry as they rapidly spread through the Americas following their introduction into Brazil. In the present study, we aimed to determine if the management of European-derived honey bees (A. mellifera sspp.) could reduce the relative abundance of African-matriline drones at regional mating sites known as drone congregation areas (DCAs). We collected 2,400 drones at six DCAs either 0.25 km or >2.8 km from managed European-derived honey bee apiaries. The maternal ancestry of each drone was determined by Bgl II enzyme digestion of an amplified portion of the mitochondrial Cytochrome b gene. Furthermore, sibship reconstruction via nuclear microsatellites was conducted for a subset of 1,200 drones to estimate the number of colonies contributing drones to each DCA. Results indicate that DCAs distant to managed European apiaries (>2.8 km) had significantly more African−matriline drones (34.33% of the collected drones had African mitochondrial DNA) than did DCAs close (0.25 km) to managed European apiaries (1.83% of the collected drones had African mitochondrial DNA). Furthermore, nuclear sibship reconstruction demonstrated that the reduction in the proportion of African matriline drones at DCAs near apiaries was not simply an increase in the number of European matriline drones at the DCAs but also the result of fewer African matriline colonies contributing drones to the DCAs. Our data demonstrate that the management of European honey bee colonies can dramatically influence the proportion of drones with African matrilines at nearby drone congregation areas, and would likely decreasing the probability that virgin European queens will mate with African drones at those drone congregation areas.
Highlights
African honey bees, Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier (1836), are native to semi-arid areas in sub-Saharan Africa
Mitochondrial DNA analysis results indicate that drone congregation areas (DCAs) distant to managed European honey bee apiaries (> 2.8 km) had significantly more (χ21, 2400 = 427.83, p
Our data demonstrate that the management of European honey bee colonies can influence the proportion of drones with African matrilines at nearby DCAs dramatically
Summary
Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier (1836), are native to semi-arid areas in sub-Saharan Africa. African-derived honey bees rapidly spread through the Americas following their introduction into Brazil in the 1950s [1,2]. Ligustica Spinola (1806), carnica Pollmann (1879), mellifera Linnaeus (1758), caucasica Pollmann (1889), and iberiensis Engel (1999) [3,4]), African-derived honey bees predominate the American tropics [5,6]. African-derived honey bees in the Americas are genetically distinguishable from their ancestral population in Africa [7]. In South and Central America, managed African honey bees quickly become the predominate subspecies upon entering new territory [8]. The heightened defensive behavior expressed by African honey bees has dramatically changed the South American beekeeping industry. Beekeepers relocated their apiaries into remote, isolated locations and hobbyist beekeeping has become nearly nonexistent [8]
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