An article recently published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution investigated the risk of virus transmission from honeybees to wild pollinators and between different wild pollinator species.
The joint study lead by researchers from Agroscope involved the following partners: University of Bern, ETH Zürich, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and six universities from Germany, Poland and France. The results show that flower-rich habitats such as Ecological Focus Areas and semi-natural habitats not only provide essential foraging, nesting and overwintering opportunities for wild bees and other pollinators such as hoverflies; they also reduce the risk of wild bees being infected with diseases, including viruses. But why is this?
The higher the floral diversity, the lower the transmission
Transmission of the studied viruses from one pollinator species to another mainly occurs indirectly through the shared use of flowers. Initial findings suggest that high flower diversity plays a key role here. When the availability of a species-rich supply of flowering plants means that wild pollinators and honeybees rarely visit the same flowers, the risk of transmission falls. Since honeybees, as the study shows, are among the main carriers of viral diseases, this reduces the risk of transmitting diseases to wild pollinators and vice versa.
Healthy pollinators – good pollination and higher yields
Promoting such diverse habitats in agroecosystems improves the health of all pollinating insects. This ultimately benefits agriculture since the yield of many crops depends on sufficient pollination by bees and other insects.
