Abstract
Over the last few decades, a gradual departure away from traditional agricultural practices has resulted in alterations to the composition of the countryside and landscapes across Europe. In the face of such changes, monitoring the development and productivity of honey bee colonies from different sites can give valuable insight on the influence of landscape on their productivity and might point towards future directions for modernized beekeeping practices. Using data on honeybee colony weights provided by electronic scales spread across Denmark, we investigated the effect of the immediate landscape on colony productivity. In order to extract meaningful information, data manipulation was necessary prior to analysis as a result of different management regimes or scales malfunction. Once this was carried out, we were able to show that colonies situated in landscapes composed of more than 50% urban areas were significantly more productive than colonies situated in those with more than 50% agricultural areas or those in mixed areas. As well as exploring some of the potential reasons for the observed differences, we discuss the value of weight monitoring of colonies on a large scale.
Highlights
Humans have lived alongside honey bees for thousands of years
Using data on honeybee colony weights provided by electronic scales spread across Denmark, we investigated the effect of the immediate landscape on colony productivity
While our dependence on honey bees has vastly increased, 80% of global agricultural pollination services can be attributed to the European Honey Bee, Apis mellifera [1] and 52 of the 115 leading global food commodities depend on honey bee pollination for either fruit or seed set [2], managed colonies in both Europe and North America especially have declined [2]
Summary
Humans have lived alongside honey bees for thousands of years. Apiculture, the maintenance of honey bee colonies by humans, has faced a number of challenges in recent years. While our dependence on honey bees has vastly increased, 80% of global agricultural pollination services can be attributed to the European Honey Bee, Apis mellifera [1] and 52 of the 115 leading global food commodities depend on honey bee pollination for either fruit or seed set [2], managed colonies in both Europe and North America especially have declined [2]. In the US, the number of honey bee colonies dropped 61% between 1947 and 2008 [2]. In Europe, colony numbers decreased from over 21 million in 1970 to about 15.5 million in 2007 [3].
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