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Bee landscape relations in changing contexts, implications for stingless bee management

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Abstract

Given the pollinator global crisis and its relation to human activities, it is important to understand how regional landscapes affects pollinators, especially those of ecological, cultural, and economic importance. In the tropics, managed stingless bees (Meliponini) depend on plant resources surrounding hives, in what can be regarded as the bee landscape. As socioecological processes converge shaping landscapes regionally, human-modified landscapes affect resources at the bee landscape level. Through geospatial analyses, we assessed how variables like ecosystem integrity, landscape composition, and land use type affect ecosystem services such as pot-honey production. Based on the case study of Veracruz, Mexico, a state with a long history of land use and land cover change, we found that stingless beekeeping thrives in diverse landscape configurations. In this study, bee landscapes of Scaptotrigona mexicana, an important managed stingless bee species, are mostly agricultural landscapes with patches of tropical forests. The patchy distribution of natural vegetation mixed with the extensive distribution of agriculture related to cattle management and agroforestry systems, result in non-linear relationships between land use composition, land use type, and ecosystem integrity. Multivariate analysis showed that pot-honey harvest benefits from heterogeneous landscapes, although ecosystem integrity and proportion of land use cover were not found to be good predictors of pot-honey production. On the other hand, regional characteristics in interaction with beehive density affect positively the average harvest rate. These findings suggest that beekeeping with S. mexicana is affected by socioecological contexts of complex agricultural landscapes. Given the relevance of stingless bees in tropical areas and the ecological services they provide, this study alleges for integrating bee requirements with development plans in tropical landscapes.

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Data Availability

Data supporting the findings of this study are available upon request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The first author thanks the Posgrado en Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, UNAM and CONACYT, for the scholarship received. We also thank Emil Neme, executive director of “Finca la Isla SPR de RL” and Aurora Xolalpa, who provided access to information. Also to Fortunato Ruiz de la Merced and Ricardo Quiroz Reyes for data gathering during the iGamma project. Thanks to feedback from Octavio Pérez Maqueo and to Keith McMillan for translation. Special thanks tot all women and men beekeepers that were part of the surveys and interviews. Financial support was received from Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad UNAM and Instituto de Ecología through iGamma project.

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  1. Luciana Porter-Bolland

    Present address: Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351 El Haya, Xalapa, Veracruz, 91073, Mexico

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351 El Haya, Xalapa, Veracruz, 91073, Mexico

    Estrella Chévez, Eduardo García-Frapolli, Rosario Landgrave & Daniel Revollo-Fernández

  2. Posgrado Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Estrella Chévez

  3. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Michoacán, México

    Eduardo García-Frapolli

  4. CONAHCyT-UAM, Área Crecimiento y Medio Ambiente, Departamento de Economía, Unidad Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico

    Daniel Revollo-Fernández

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  1. Estrella Chévez
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Chévez, E., Porter-Bolland, L., García-Frapolli, E. et al. Bee landscape relations in changing contexts, implications for stingless bee management. Reg Environ Change 23, 106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-023-02093-4

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