Honeybees affect floral microbiome composition in a central food source for wild pollinators in boreal ecosystems
Year of publication
2023
Authors
Hietaranta Elsi; Juottonen Heli; Kytöviita Minna-Maarit
Abstract
Basic knowledge on dispersal of microbes in pollinator networks is essential for plant, insect, and microbial ecology. Thorough understanding of the ecological consequences of honeybee farming on these complex plant–pollinator–microbe interactions is a prerequisite for sustainable honeybee keeping. Most research on plant–pollinator–microbe interactions have focused on temperate agricultural systems. Therefore, information on a wild plant that is a seasonal bottleneck for pollinators in cold climate such as Salix phylicifolia is of specific importance. We investigated how floral visitation by insects influences the community structure of bacteria and fungi in Salix phylicifolia inflorescences under natural conditions. Insect visitors were experimentally excluded with net bags. We analyzed the microbiome and measured pollen removal in open and bagged inflorescences in sites where honeybees were foraging and in sites without honeybees. Site and plant individual explained most of the variation in floral microbial communities. Insect visitation and honeybees had a smaller but significant effect on the community composition of microbes. Honeybees had a specific effect on the inflorescence microbiome and, e.g., increased the relative abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) from the bacterial order Lactobacillales. Site had a significant effect on the amount of pollen removed from inflorescences but this was not due to honeybees. Insect visitors increased bacterial and especially fungal OTU richness in the inflorescences. Pollinator visits explained 38% variation in fungal richness, but only 10% in bacterial richness. Our work shows that honeybee farming affects the floral microbiome in a wild plant in rural boreal ecosystems.
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Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Original article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A1 Journal article (refereed), original researchPublication channel information
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
Yes
Open access of publication channel
Partially open publication channel
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Ecology, evolutionary biology
Keywords
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Publication country
Germany
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
No
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1007/s00442-022-05285-7
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes