A ‘Landscape physiology’ approach for assessing bee health highlights the benefits of floral landscape enrichment and semi-natural habitats

Understanding how anthropogenic landscape alteration affects populations of ecologically- and economically-important insect pollinators has never been more pressing. In this context, the assessment of landscape quality typically relies on spatial distribution studies, but, whether habitatrestoration techniques actually improve the health of targeted pollinator populations remains obscure. This gap could be filled by a comprehensive understanding of how gradients of landscape quality influence pollinator physiology. We therefore used this approach for honey bees (Apis mellifera) to test whether landscape patterns can shape bee health. We focused on the pre-wintering period since abnormally high winter colony losses have often been observed. By exposing colonies to different landscapes, enriched in melliferous catch crops and surrounded by semi-natural habitats, we found that bee physiology (i.e. fat body mass and level of vitellogenin) was significantly improved by the presence of flowering catch crops. Catch crop presence was associated with a significant increase in pollen diet diversity. The influence of semi-natural habitats on bee health was even stronger. Vitellogenin level was in turn significantly linked to higher overwintering survival. Therefore, our experimental study, combining landscape ecology and bee physiology, offers an exciting proof-of-concept for directly identifying stressful or suitable landscapes and promoting efficient pollinator conservation

Renforcer la ressource alimentaire pour les abeilles mellifères : exemple de l'intérêt des cultures intermédiaires mellifères (CIM) en période de préhivernage des colonies en zone de grandes cultures

Renforcer la ressource alimentaire pour les abeilles mellifères : exemple de l'intérêt des cultures intermédiaires mellifères (CIM) en période de préhivernage des colonies en zone de grandes cultures. 3. Journées de la Recherche Apicol

Tester une innovation technique favorable aux abeilles mellifères par des approches participative et expérimentale – Projet InterAPI 1

La combinaison de la mortalité et de colonies non productrices en sortie d’hiver est responsable d’un taux de mortalité représentant près d’un tiers du cheptel. Nous nous sommes intéressés aux conditions environnementales des colonies d’abeilles mellifères à cette période cruciale de pré-hivernage. Une solution technique spécifique a été testée pour étudier l’influence de l’environnement sur la période d’hivernage des colonies. C’est grâce à une double approche d’accompagnement des acteurs et expérimentale s’appuyant sur une implication forte des agriculteurs et apiculteurs de la Beauce, que les partenaires du projet InterAPI mettent en évidence l’intérêt d’un aménagement du territoire qui intègre des cultures intermédiaires mellifères (CIM) favorables aux colonies. Ils identifient les espèces candidates et leurs caractéristiques grâce à deux outils d’aide à la gestion de cette interculture.The rates of honeybee colony winter losses remain very high describing mortalities and non-producing colonies after wintering represents nearly a third of the producing colonies. We were interested in environmental conditions of honeybee colonies at this crucial time. A technical solution has been tested and specifically to study environment influence on the wintering period of the colonies. Through a dual approach of co-construction and experimental, based on a strong involvement of farmers and beekeepers in Beauce region, partners of InterAPI project highlight the interest of a landscape management which includes melliferous catch crops. They identify candidate species and their characteristics using two tools helping the management of catch crops