14 research outputs found
Genetic structure of drone congregation areas of Africanized honeybees in southern Brazil
As yet, certain aspects of the Africanization process are not well understood, for example, the reproductive behavior of African and European honeybees and how the first Africanized swarms were formed and spread. Drone congregation areas (DCAs) are the ideal place to study honeybee reproduction under natural conditions since hundreds of drones from various colonies gather together in the same geographical area for mating. In the present study, we assessed the genetic structure of seven drone congregations and four commercial European-derived and Africanized apiaries in southern Brazil, employing seven microsatellite loci for this purpose. We also estimated the number of mother-colonies that drones of a specific DCA originated from. Pairwise comparison failed to reveal any population sub-structuring among the DCAs, thus indicating low mutual genetic differentiation. We also observed high genetic similarity between colonies of commercial apiaries and DCAs, besides a slight contribution from a European-derived apiary to a DCA formed nearby. Africanized DCAs seem to have a somewhat different genetic structure when compared to the European
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Safeguarding pollinators and their values to human well-being
Wild and managed pollinators provide a wide range of benefits to society in terms of contributions to food security, farmer
and beekeeper livelihoods, social and cultural values, as well as the maintenance of wider biodiversity and ecosystem
stability. Pollinators face numerous threats, including changes in land-use and management intensity, climate change,
pesticides and genetically modified crops, pollinator management and pathogens, and invasive alien species. There are
well-documented declines in some wild and managed pollinators in several regions of the world. However, many effective
policy and management responses can be implemented to safeguard pollinators and sustain pollination services