Speaker
Description
Survival of wild bees is threatened by multiple factors such as agricultural intensification, scarcity of food resources and diseases. Many pathogens are shared between managed and wild bee species, with flowers as the most likely route of interspecific transmission. An increased density of managed pollinators in the landscape may therefore aggravate pathogen spillover among communities of flower-visitors. This effect, however, likely depends on the density of reservoir and recipient host species, the structure of the plant-pollinator networks and the availability of flower resources. To explore this possibility, we manipulated the density of honey bee colonies across 32 agricultural sites, placing either 4 or 84 honeybee micro-colonies at the centre of each site. We then recorded plant-pollinator interactions, flower abundance and screened bees for common bee viruses: deformed wing virus, black queen cell virus, acute bee paralysis virus, and sacbrood virus. We related the network structure and honey bee viral transmission potential to the prevalence and load of viruses in wild bees. With increasing flower availability, honey bee abundance increased but network niche overlap decreased. Higher network connectance related to higher viral prevalence. Our study provides insights into the dynamics of viral transmission in bee communities, and can inform management decisions by land managers and other stakeholders to reduce the threat facing wild bees posed by pathogen spillover.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
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