The importance of
On the importance of competition between honeybees and other pollinators
SICAMM is pleased to publish a new article by Jacques van Alphen examining the complex relationship between honeybees and other pollinating insects.
Concerns are frequently raised about whether managed honeybee colonies compete with wild bees and other pollinators for nectar and pollen. However, demonstrating competition and establishing whether it causes a measurable decline in another species are not the same thing.
In this detailed article, Jacques van Alphen considers the ecological evidence surrounding this debate. He explores the long history of coexistence between the dark European honeybee, bumblebees and solitary bees, and explains how differences in their habitats, food preferences, foraging ranges and seasonal activity can reduce competition.
The article also considers the circumstances in which competition may become more significant, particularly when human activity creates shortages of flowering plants or when honeybee colonies are maintained at unnaturally high densities.
Among the issues discussed are:
the difficulty of proving competition between pollinator species;
the importance of establishing whether food is genuinely limited;
changes in agriculture and the seasonal availability of flowers;
changes in beekeeping practices and colony density;
the use of non-native honeybee subspecies;
and the possible transmission of viruses between honeybees and other bee species.
The article concludes that negative effects associated with beekeeping are largely linked to human-created conditions. It argues that beekeeping founded on sound ecological principles need not pose a threat to other pollinating insects and could benefit both biodiversity and agriculture.
Read the full article
About the author
Jacques van Alphen is an evolutionary ecologist whose work includes research into ecology, evolution, insect behaviour and honeybees.
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