First large-scale study reveals important losses of managed honey bee and stingless bee colonies in Latin America
Fabrice Réquier, Malena Sibaja Leyton, Carolina L. Morales, Lucas A. Garibaldi, Agostina Giacobino, Martín Pablo Porrini, Juan Manuel Rosso-Londoño, Rodrigo A. Velarde, Andrea Aignasse, Patricia Aldea-Sánchez, Mariana Laura Allasino, Daniela Arredondo, M Audisio, Natalia Bulacio Cagnolo, Marina Basualdo, Belén Branchiccela, Rafael A. Calderón-Fallas, Loreley Castelli, Dayson Castilhos, Francisca Contreras-Escareño, Adriana Correa-Benítez, Fabiana Oliveira da Silva, Diego Silva Garnica, Grecia S. de Groot, Andrés Delgado Cañedo, Hermógenes Fernández‐Marín, Breno Magalhães Freitas, Alberto Galindo‐Cardona, Nancy L. Garcia, Paula Melisa Garrido, Tuğrul Giray, Lionel Segui Gonçalves, Lucas Landi, Daniel Malusá Gonçalves, S. Martínez, Pablo Joaquín Moja, Ana Molineri, Pablo Fernando Müller, Enrique Nogueira, Adriana Pacini, María Alejandra Palacio, Guiomar Nates Parra, Alejandro Parra‐H, Kátia Peres Gramacho, E. Castro, C. S. S. Pires, Francisco José Reynaldi, Anais Rodríguez Luis, Cármen Rossini, Milton Sánchez Armijos, Estela Santos, Alejandra C. Scannapieco, Yamandú Mendoza, José María Tapia-González, Andrés Marcelo Vargas Fernández, Blandina Felipe Viana, Lorena Vieli, Carlos Yadró, Karina Antúnez
Abstract
Over the last quarter century, increasing honey bee colony losses motivated standardized large-scale surveys of managed honey bees (Apis mellifera), particularly in Europe and the United States. Here we present the first large-scale standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 beekeepers and 165 meliponiculturists participated in the 2-year survey (2016-2017 and 2017-2018). On average, 30.4% of honey bee colonies and 39.6% of stingless bee colonies were lost per year across the region. Summer losses were higher than winter losses in stingless bees (30.9% and 22.2%, respectively) but not in honey bees (18.8% and 20.6%, respectively). Colony loss increased with operation size during the summer in both honey bees and stingless bees and decreased with operation size during the winter in stingless bees. Furthermore, losses differed significantly between countries and across years for both beekeepers and meliponiculturists. Overall, winter losses of honey bee colonies in Latin America (20.6%) position this region between Europe (12.5%) and the United States (40.4%). These results highlight the magnitude of bee colony losses occurring in the region and suggest difficulties in maintaining overall colony health and economic survival for beekeepers and meliponiculturists.