Quelle contribution de la composante ligneuse aux ressources alimentaires des colonies (Apis mellifera L.) en paysage de grandes cultures ?

La majorité des espèces cultivées en Europe nécessitent un service de pollinisation pour produire. Un important déclin des pollinisateurs est observé ces dernières décennies. Les populations d’abeilles domestiques, partie intégrante de l’agrobiodiversité, sont des bio-indicateurs sensibles de l’état de l’environnement agricole. Celles-ci sont aujourd’hui affectées par des mortalités importantes dont les principales causes habituellement évoquées sont les interactions entre pesticides et pathogènes. Cependant au sein de ces agropaysages, la perte de ressources trophiques contribue également à l’affaiblissement des colonies. Or, la diversité, la qualité et les quantités de ressources trophiques disponibles dans le paysage influencent également leur activité de ponte et leur dynamique de développement. Au regard d’un tel contexte, cette étude vise à analyser les interactions entre différents types de structures paysagères situées dans le département du Gers (32, France) et les stratégies de butinage de colonies d’abeilles domestiques. Elle questionne plus spécifiquement le rôle de la composante ligneuse dans l’apport de ressources polliniques, notamment en période de disette. L’approche méthodologique développée consiste (I) en une analyse de l’organisation spatiale de six mosaïques paysagères différenciées selon un gradient de présence de ligneux, (II) en un suivi phénologique et spatial des ressources floristiques d’intérêt pollinifère disponibles, (III) et en une analyse qualitative et quantitative des stratégies de butinage mises en oeuvre pour la collecte de pollen tout au long de la saison, à partir du suivi de 43 colonies équipées de trappes à pollen. Les résultats obtenus font état de la présence d’une grande diversité d’espèces floristiques d’intérêt pour l’abeille domestique en contexte agricole gersois, soit plus de 200 taxons. Les surfaces ligneuses et cultivées y sont fortement mobilisées pour la collecte de pollen. Elles représentent respectivement 22 % et 35 % des ressources accumulées en moyenne dans l’année, par échantillon, sur 24h. Les ligneux sont particulièrement recherchés en début (51 % en avril, 34 % en mai) et en fin de saison (87 % en octobre). En contexte paysager fermé, nous avons observé que la plus forte présence de ligneux génère un effet compensatoire lors de la première période de disette de juin. De plus la meilleure répartition spatio-temporelle de ces ressources se traduit par de plus faibles amplitudes quant aux quantités de pollen collectées tout au long de la saison, ce qui pourrait permettre une meilleure résilience des colonies

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Le rôle de la composante ligneuse dans l'apport de ressources trophiques aux colonies d'abeilles domestiques [i]Apis mellifera L.[/i] en contexte paysager agricole (Gers, 32). 5. Journées de la Recherche Apicol

Quelle contribution de la composante ligneuse aux ressources alimentaires des colonies d'abeilles domestiques en paysage de grandes cultures ?

National audienc

FLORAL RESOURCES USED BY HONEY BEES IN AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES

International audienc

Honey bee diet in intensive farmland habitats reveals an unexpectedly high flower richness and a major role of weeds

In intensive farmland habitats, pollination of wild flowers and crops may be threatened by the widespread decline of pollinators. The honey bee decline, in particular, appears to result from the combination of multiple stresses, including diseases, pathogens, and pesticides. The reduction of semi-natural habitats is also suspected to entail floral resource scarcity for bees. Yet, the seasonal dynamics and composition of the honey bee diet remains poorly documented to date. In this study, we studied the seasonal contribution of mass-flowering crops (rapeseed and sunflower) vs. other floral resources, as well as the influence of nutritional quality and landscape composition on pollen diet composition over five consecutive years. From April to October, the mass of pollen and nectar collected by honey bees followed a bimodal seasonal trend, marked by a two-month period of low food supply between the two oilseed crop mass-flowerings (ending in May for rapeseed and July for sunflower). Bees collected nectar mainly from crops while pollen came from a wide diversity of herbaceous and woody plant species in semi-natural habitats or from weeds in crops. Weed species constituted the bulk of the honey bee diet between the mass flowering crop periods (up to 40%) and are therefore suspected to play a critical role at this time period. The pollen diet composition was related to the nutritional value of the collected pollen and by the local landscape composition. Our study highlights (1) a food supply depletion period of both pollen and nectar resources during late spring, contemporaneously with the demographic peak of honey bee populations, (2) a high botanical richness of pollen diet, mostly proceeding from trees and weeds, and (3) a pollen diet composition influenced by the local landscape composition. Our results therefore support the Agri-Environmental Schemes intended to promote honey bees and beekeeping sustainability through the enhancement of flower availability in agricultural landscapes

Food selection dynamic by honeybees in agricultural landscape

International audienceAgricultural landscapes have been strongly changed because of farming intensification for several centuries. These landscape changes are mainly related to a decrease in semi-natural habitats, standardisation of land use and an increase of field area, which have created some intensive cereal farming systems. Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) is the main crop pollinator. Nectar constitutes the energy resource and is transformed in honey for storage whereas pollen is the main protein resource for the physiology development. Pollen is little stored and the supply must follow a flow tended between need and collection. However, during the breeding season, the succession of flowering crops leads to strong spatio-temporal dynamics of food resources. In such an environmental context, which food choices make honeybees and which influences will they have on the dynamics of pollen harvest during these seasons? Thanks to the large spatial scale of our experimental design on a 200 colonies monitoring, set up in an intensive cereal farming system, we clearly assume that a bimodal temporal pattern of pollen harvest exists. The first peak is linked to the blooming of spring plants (in May) and the second one to the simultaneous flowering of sunflower and maize (in July). We observe that species which are present in hedgerows and forest edges were strongly selected as well as weeds such as the poppy. On the contrary, the rapeseed is little selected for its pollen resource while the maize which is anemophilous pollinated, is strongly chosen

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

Appendix A. Study area, study design and sample sizes used in this study.

Study area, study design and sample sizes used in this study