Ivy bees fight back against honeybees that drive other pollinators off flowers
Honeybees are outcompeting wild pollinators in the U.K., and new research has found evidence of their aggressive behavior, recording for the first time the extent to which they restrict access to food sources and attack and chase other species.
Recent research conducted at Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K. has found that honeybees are aggressively outcompeting wild pollinators for food sources. Over two years of observation at five sites near Cambridge, the researchers recorded interactions between honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, and other pollinators like butterflies, beetles, and wasps.
The study, published in Ecological Entomology, revealed that higher densities of honeybees led to fewer wild pollinators and more aggressive encounters. On bramble flowers, doubling the number of honeybees reduced bumblebee abundance by 14%. On ivy flowers, increased honeybee density correlated with fewer solitary bees and hoverflies.
Honeybees initiated conflicts in 28% of interactions on bramble and 36% on ivy, often chasing and displacing rival pollinators. The only pollinator to challenge honeybees was the ivy bee, a non-native solitary bee first seen in Britain in 2001. The researchers suggest that climate change could further intensify competition between wild and managed pollinators, as higher temperatures correlate with more competition.
They emphasize the need to understand and mitigate these interactions to conserve wild pollinators, which are crucial for ecological health.
Written by urgent.news from Phys.org's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
