@article{ab3aa4d175cd4d398a965cd203f27c4d,
title = "Native habitat mitigates feast–famine conditions faced by honey bees in an agricultural landscape",
abstract = "Intensive agriculture can contribute to pollinator decline, exemplified by alarmingly high annual losses of honey bee colonies in regions dominated by annual crops (e.g., midwestern United States). As more natural or seminatural landscapes are transformed into monocultures, there is growing concern over current and future impacts on pollinators. To forecast how landscape simplification can affect bees, we conducted a replicated, longitudinal assessment of honey bee colony growth and nutritional health in an intensively farmed region where much of the landscape is devoted to production of corn and soybeans. Surprisingly, colonies adjacent to soybean fields surrounded by more cultivated land grew more during midseason than those in areas of lower cultivation. Regardless of the landscape surrounding the colonies, all experienced a precipitous decline in colony weight beginning in August and ended the season with reduced fat stores in individual bees, both predictors of colony overwintering failure. Patterns of forage availability and colony nutritional state suggest that late-season declines were caused by food scarcity during a period of extremely limited forage. To test if habitat enhancements could ameliorate this response, we performed a separate experiment in which colonies provided access to native perennials (i.e., prairie) were rescued from both weight loss and reduced fat stores, suggesting the rapid decline observed in these agricultural landscapes is not inevitable. Overall, these results show that intensively farmed areas can provide a short-term feast that cannot sustain the long-term nutritional health of colonies; reintegration of biodiversity into such landscapes may provide relief from nutritional stress.",
keywords = "Agriculture, Apis mellifera, Honey bee, Land use, Pollinators",
author = "Dolezal, {Adam G.} and Clair, {Ashley L.St} and Ge Zhang and Toth, {Amy L.} and O{\textquoteright}Neal, {Matthew E.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank the many farmers who allowed us to conduct experiments in their fields, and to Iowa State University and Blomgren Seed Company for helping us connect with them; F. Kate Hunter, Edward Hsieh, David Stein, Zoe Pritchard, and members of the A.L.T. and M.E.O. laboratories for helping with field and laboratory assistance; Dr. Richard Joost for encouragement to initiate this project; Drs. Matthew Smart and Kathleen Ryan for reviewing an earlier version; and Kelly Dolezal for editing. This research was supported with funding from United Soybean Board Grant 1520-732-7225 (to A.G.D., A.L.T., and M.E.O.) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA)/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Grant 2016-07965 (to A.G.D., A.L.T., and M.E.O.); this article is a product of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, IA Project No. 5351 and sponsored by Hatch Act and State of Iowa funds (to M.E.O.). Funding sources were not involved in the design, collection, interpretation, or writing of this paper. Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank the many farmers who allowed us to conduct experiments in their fields, and to Iowa State University and Blomgren Seed Company for helping us connect with them; F. Kate Hunter, Edward Hsieh, David Stein, Zoe Pritchard, and members of the A.L.T. and M.E.O. laboratories for helping with field and laboratory assistance; Dr. Richard Joost for encouragement to initiate this project; Drs. Matthew Smart and Kathleen Ryan for reviewing an earlier version; and Kelly Dolezal for editing. This research was supported with funding from United Soybean Board Grant 1520-732-7225 (to A.G.D., A.L.T., and M.E.O.) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA)/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Grant 2016-07965 (to A.G.D., A.L.T., and M.E.O.); this article is a product of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, IA Project No. 5351 and sponsored by Hatch Act and State of Iowa funds (to M.E.O.). Funding sources were not involved in the design, collection, interpretation, or writing of this paper. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.",
year = "2019",
month = dec,
day = "10",
doi = "10.1073/pnas.1912801116",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "116",
pages = "25147--25155",
journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
issn = "0027-8424",
publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",
number = "50",
}