Native bees struggle against invasive honey bee

Bee Hotel. Image credit: Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Kit Prendergast/Curtin University

New Curtin University research has revealed that high densities of European honey bees could be harming the ‘fitness’ of Australian native bees by reducing their reproductive success and altering key traits linked to survival.

The study, led by Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Kit Prendergast from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, found that honey bees not only dominate pollen resources but may also affect the fitness of native cavity-nesting bees – with concerning consequences for biodiversity.

Dr Prendergast said the study used specially designed wooden ‘bee hotels’ located in 14 urban bushland and garden sites in Perth, Western Australia, to assess how honey bee density influenced key indicators of native bee health and reproduction over two Spring-to-Summer bee seasons.

The full study ‘Introduced honey bees have the potential to reduce fitness of cavity-nesting native bees in terms of a male bias sex ratio, brood mortality and reduced reproduction’ is published in ‘Frontiers in Bee Science’ and can be accessed here.