A spatially extended model to assess the role of landscape structure on the pollination service of Apis mellifera

Models of bee responses to land use and land cover changes in agricultural landscapes - a review and research agenda

Predictive modelling tools can be used to support the design of agricultural landscapes to promote pollinator biodiversity and pollination services. Despite the proliferation of such modelling tools in recent decades, there remains a gap in synthesising their main characteristics and representation capacities. Here, we reviewed 42 studies that developed non-correlative models to explore the impact of land use and land cover changes on bee populations, and synthesised information about the modelled systems, modelling approaches, and key model characteristics like spatiotemporal extent and resolution. Various modelling approaches are employed to predict the biodiversity of bees and the pollination services they provide, with a prevalence of models focusing on wild populations compared to managed ones. Of these models, landscape indicators and distance decay models are relatively simple, with few parameters. They allow mapping bee visitation probabilities using basic land cover data and considering bee foraging ranges. Conversely, mechanistic or agent-based models delineate, with varying degrees of complexity, a multitude of processes that characterise, among others, the foraging behaviour and population dynamics of bees. The reviewed models collectively encompass 38 ecological, agronomic, and economic processes, producing various outputs including bee abundance, habitat visitation rate, and crop yield. To advance the development of predictive modelling tools aimed at fostering pollinator biodiversity and pollination services in agricultural landscapes, we highlight future avenues for increasing biophysical realism in models predicting the impact of land use and land cover changes on bees. Additionally, we address the challenges associated with balancing model complexity and practical usability.

Characterisation of Bee Pollen from the Marche Region (Italy) According to the Botanical and Geographical Origin with Analysis of Antioxidant Activity and Colour, Using a Chemometric Approach

Attempts have often been made to isolate and characterise monofloral pollens to correlate nutritional with botanical properties. Nevertheless, pollen harvested in a particular area that can have a high biodiversity could have healthier properties. In addition, the analysis of the pollen's botanical composition can be important for characterising the typical flora of a specific geographical area. On this basis, various pollens collected in different locations of the Marche region (Italy) and in different harvesting periods were analyzed for botanical composition and antioxidant (total phenolic content, ABTS, DPPH and ORAC tests), granulometry and colour (CIE L*a*b*) properties to evaluate the biodiversity of pollen sources within a particular geographical area and to correlate this to the nutraceutical characteristics. Antioxidant activity results showed values generally higher than those of monofloral pollens harvested in the same areas but manually separated according to colour, shape and size. This suggests that even the floral species present in low percentages may have an influence on the nutraceutical properties of these products. The multivariate statistical elaboration of the obtained results permitted the separation of samples containing a prevalent botanical species and the grouping of all the samples into separate clusters corresponding to different areas of Marche.

Comparison of two criteria on the essential number calculation of Andrena camellia

Andrena camellia Wu is one of the primary pollinators of Camellia oleifera A. in China. In this paper, the essential number of individuals for efficient pollination by this species was calculated via two criteria, based on various indicators including counts of pollen grains in provisions, from single visits, and from single foraging trips overall; single flower visit duration; single flight period duration; number of eggs laid by a single female over their lifetime; and the average number of flowers per plant. Based on the number of pollen grains collected per flower visit, the essential number of females necessary is 2107 in a 1-ha Camellia oleifera garden with 1800 plants, while only 1998 female individuals are essentially needed when estimated based on the mean number of pollen grains collected in a single flight period. We argue that the essential number estimated by the former method is more reasonable and accurate for practical applications.

Viral impacts on honey bee populations: A review

Honey bee is vital for pollination and ecological services, boosting crops productivity in terms of quality and quantity and production of colony products: wax, royal jelly, bee venom, honey, pollen and propolis. Honey bees are most important plant pollinators and almost one third of diet depends on bee's pollination, worth billions of dollars. Hence the role that honey bees have in environment and their economic importance in food production, their health is of dominant significance. Honey bees can be infected by various pathogens like: viruses, bacteria, fungi, or infested by parasitic mites. At least more than 20 viruses have been identified to infect honey bees worldwide, generally from Dicistroviridae as well as Iflaviridae families, like ABPV (Acute Bee Paralysis Virus), BQCV (Black Queen Cell Virus), KBV (Kashmir Bee Virus), SBV (Sacbrood Virus), CBPV (Chronic bee paralysis virus), SBPV (Slow Bee Paralysis Virus) along with IAPV (Israeli acute paralysis virus), and DWV (Deformed Wing Virus) are prominent and cause infections harmful for honey bee colonies health. This issue about honey bee viruses demonstrates remarkably how diverse this field is, and considerable work has to be done to get a comprehensive interpretation of the bee virology.

Agroecology landscapes

CONTEXT

Agroecology combines agronomic and ecological concepts. It relies on the enhancement of biodiversity and related ecosystem services to support agricultural production. It is dependent on biological interactions for the design and management of agricultural systems in agricultural landscapes.

OBJECTIVES

We review the role of landscape ecology to understand and promote biodiversity, pest regulation and crop pollination for the designing of "agroecology landscapes". We illustrate the use of landscape ecological methods for supporting agroforestry systems as an example of agroecological development, and we propose pathways to implement agroecology at landscape scale.

METHODS

The state of the art of how landscape ecology contributes to agroecology development is summarized based on a literature review.

RESULTS

Agroecology requires thinking beyond the field scale to consider the positioning, quality and connectivity of fields and semi-natural habitats at larger spatial scales. The spatial and temporal organisation of semi-natural elements and the crop mosaic interact. Understanding this interaction is the pre-requisite for promoting patterns and mechanisms that foster biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Promoting agroecological practices beyond individual farm borders can be rooted in a bottom-up approach from agroecological lighthouse farms to farm networks to amplify agroecology adoption at the landscape scale.

CONCLUSIONS

Achieving agricultural landscapes composed of fields and farms following agroecological management requires understanding of biodiversity patterns, biological interactions and mechanisms that determine and boost ecosystem functioning to improve services at landscape scale, involving farmers in a bottom-up and context-specific approach.