Abstract
Across their introduced range in North America, populations of feral honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies have supposedly declined in recent decades as a result of exotic parasites, most notably the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor. Nonetheless, recent studies have documented several wild populations of colonies that have persisted. The extreme polyandry of honey bee queens—and the increased intracolony genetic diversity it confers—has been attributed, in part, to improved disease resistance and may be a factor in the survival of these populations of feral colonies. We estimated the mating frequencies of queens in feral colonies in the Arnot Forest in New York State to determine if the level of polyandry of these queens is especially high and so might contribute to their survival success. We genotyped the worker offspring from 10 feral colonies in the Arnot Forest of upstate New York, as well as those from 20 managed colonies closest to this forest. We found no significant differences in mean mating frequency between the feral and managed queens, suggesting that queens in the remote, low-density population of colonies in the Arnot Forest are neither mate-limited nor adapted to mate at an especially high frequency. These findings support the hypothesis that the hyperpolyandry of honey bees has been shaped on an evolutionary timescale rather than on an ecological one.
Highlights
The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is incredibly widespread and ecologically successful, as its native range spans all of Africa, Europe, and much of Western Asia [1]
We found no significant differences in mean mating frequency among the three groups (Fig. 2)
This study of the feral honey bee colonies living in the remote Arnot Forest was undertaken to gain insights into their mating biology and to explore how they have been able to survive while the population of managed honey bee colonies in North America has experienced heavy mortality each year and has depended on the aid of beekeepers to survive
Summary
The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is incredibly widespread and ecologically successful, as its native range spans all of Africa, Europe, and much of Western Asia [1]. Aside from the now-extinct Apis nearctica [2], honey bees are an exotic species in North America, having been introduced by European settlers beginning early in the 17th century. These bees quickly escaped from beekeepers’ hives and spread throughout North America, creating two groups of PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0118734. One major cause of colony mortality in Europe and North America is the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, which was introduced to these continents in the 1970s and mid 1980s, respectively. The introduction of Varroa is widely thought to have decimated the wild colonies in Europe and the feral population in North America [10,11]. The increasing reports of feral honey bee colonies surviving in several eastern and southern states in the U.S [12]—as well as the persistence since at least the 1970s of a population of feral honey bee colonies in the Arnot Forest in New York State [13]—indicate that feral honey bees in North America have survived and may even be rebounding despite the presence of Varroa and other disease agents
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