Title
Honey bees and climate explain viral prevalence in wild bee communities on a continental scale
Date Issued
01 December 2022
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Piot N.
Schweiger O.
Meeus I.
Straub L.
Villamar-Bouza L.
De la Rúa P.
Jara L.
Ruiz C.
Malmstrøm M.
Mustafa S.
Nielsen A.
Mänd M.
Karise R.
Tlak-Gajger I.
Özgör E.
Keskin N.
Diévart V.
Dalmon A.
Gajda A.
Neumann P.
Smagghe G.
Graystock P.
Radzevičiūtė R.
Paxton R.J.
de Miranda J.R.
University of Bern
Publisher(s)
Nature Research
Abstract
Viruses are omnipresent, yet the knowledge on drivers of viral prevalence in wild host populations is often limited. Biotic factors, such as sympatric managed host species, as well as abiotic factors, such as climatic variables, are likely to impact viral prevalence. Managed and wild bees, which harbor several multi-host viruses with a mostly fecal–oral between-species transmission route, provide an excellent system with which to test for the impact of biotic and abiotic factors on viral prevalence in wild host populations. Here we show on a continental scale that the prevalence of three broad host viruses: the AKI-complex (Acute bee paralysis virus, Kashmir bee virus and Israeli acute paralysis virus), Deformed wing virus, and Slow bee paralysis virus in wild bee populations (bumble bees and solitary bees) is positively related to viral prevalence of sympatric honey bees as well as being impacted by climatic variables. The former highlights the need for good beekeeping practices, including Varroa destructor management to reduce honey bee viral infection and hive placement. Furthermore, we found that viral prevalence in wild bees is at its lowest at the extreme ends of both temperature and precipitation ranges. Under predicted climate change, the frequency of extremes in precipitation and temperature will continue to increase and may hence impact viral prevalence in wild bee communities.
Volume
12
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85124057077
PubMed ID
Source
Scientific Reports
ISSN of the container
20452322
Sponsor(s)
We thank the referees for valuable and insightful comments which helped improve the clarity of the manuscript. The authors acknowledge the support of the EU COST-Action FA1307 Sustainable pollination in Europe-joint research on bees and other pollinators (Super-B) for providing the platform to initiate this project, as well as internal funders from each country and institute for financing the sample collection and processing costs. We also would like to thank the technicians and students at the collecting-processing labs and the assaying labs for their invaluable help and competence. RJP thanks Kerstin Gößel and Anja Manigk for technical help. JRM would like to thank the excellent technical support provided by MSc student Sofie Tinggren, BMA student Nellie Svedin and BMA Emilia Semberg during the course of this project. GS, NP and IM would like to thank student Tian Tian for her practical assistance and the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen) for funding. PG would like to thank Crystal Frost for technical assistance. AD would like to thank Maxime Thomasson and Elodie Boeuf for their technical support, Bernard E. Vaissière and Laurent Guilbaud for their support in taxonomy for wild bees, and the scientific department SPE of INRAE for funding. RJP thanks the DFG (Pa632/10) for funding.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus