<div dir="ltr"><font>Hi Liz and all,</font><div><br></div><div>I've been working in the Israeli Rift Valley for the past few years, the epitome of scarce resources, and can certainly say that the effect of honeybees on resource depletion rate there is great.</div>
<div>Pollen and nectar in plants that were heavily foraged by honeybees were depleted much more quickly than ones that weren't.</div><div>Considering that honey bees start foraging much earlier in the day than most of the local wild species, by the time the wild species are up and about, most of the food is gone.</div>
<div>That has to affect their reproductive rate.</div><div>And one of the plant species I checked was not being pollinated by the HB at all, despite them illegitimately cleaning out much of its pollen and nectar.</div><div>
(Sorry, don't have the articles on it yet, they'll be coming later this year.)</div><div><br></div><div>So, no I don't think it's such a great idea to put heaps of hives in conservation areas if you want to keep your local plants and pollinators unharmed.</div>
<div>Like Peter and David said, the problem isn't with a few feral hives, it's when they show up in great numbers in comparison to wild species that they become a pain.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br></div><div>Ariella</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Ariella Gotlieb</div><div>PhD candidate</div><div>Tel Aviv University</div><div><a href="mailto:ariellag@post.tau.ac.il">ariellag@post.tau.ac.il</a></div>
<div><a href="mailto:arigotlieb@gmail.com">arigotlieb@gmail.com</a></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 7:04 PM, Liz Day <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lizday44@sbcglobal.net" target="_blank">lizday44@sbcglobal.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Might these results have been different in areas of scarcer resources (such as Indianapolis(?)?<br>
I find it hard to imagine that honeybees do not affect bumblebees in places where Bombus forage appears rather scant.<br>
Liz D.<div><div><br>
<br>
<br>
>Here, one of the most invasive species, the non-native African honey<br>
>bee, failed to impact native bee populations in Panama:<br>
><br>
>> To provide replicate samples of local bee populations in a nature<br>
>preserve, light traps operated continuously on Barro Colorado Island<br>
>(BCI), Panama, collected bees for 17 years, including 10 years<br>
>following invasion by African Apis mellifera. Honey bees appeared in<br>
>light traps as the first swarms colonized the Panama Canal area. Their<br>
>numbers followed seasonal trends shown in independent studies, thus<br>
>indicating bee abundance and activity in a large area.<br>
><br>
>> No measurable population-level impact of competition between this<br>
>invading honey bee and native bees, despite many demonstrations of<br>
>resource competition at flower patch and colony levels, changed annual<br>
>abundances of all 15 native bee species. Native bee abundance did not<br>
>decrease, nor did native bees show substantial reciprocal yearly<br>
>change with honey bee abundance. Native bee populations did not<br>
>decline during the 10 years after arrival of honey bees. In fact, the<br>
>15 species jointly showed a slight increase during the entire 17-year period.<br>
><br>
>Do competing honey bees matter? Dynamics and abundance of native bees<br>
>before and after honey bee invasion. David W. Roubik · Henk Wolda.<br>
>Popul Ecol (2001) 43:5362<br>
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