Environmental News Network - Curtin Research Finds Introduced Honeybee May Pose Threat to Native Bees

Details: By Curtin University; 08.Apr

Published in the ‘Biological Journal of the Linnean Society’, the research found competition between the native bees and the introduced European honeybee could be particularly intense in residential gardens dominated by non-native flowers, and occurred when the bees shared the same flower preferences.

Cheryl Porter

Published in the ‘Biological Journal of the Linnean Society’, the research found competition between the native bees and the introduced European honeybee could be particularly intense in residential gardens dominated by non-native flowers, and occurred when the bees shared the same flower preferences.

Under these conditions, it would appear that European honeybees, being very abundant, and effective foragers, with the ability to exploit a wide range of flowers, can outcompete native bees for nectar and pollen resources.

Lead author, Forrest Foundation Scholar Miss Kit Prendergast, from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the research was conducted over two years in urban gardens and areas of native vegetation on the Swan Coastal Plain at Perth, Western Australia and revealed a complex relationship between native and introduced bees.

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Curtin Research Finds Introduced Honeybee May Pose Threat to Native Bees