景观简化和半自然栖息地的丧失被认为是农田昆虫传粉者减少的重要驱动因素,通过破坏花卉资源的可用性并促进粮食短缺的发生。食物短缺会导致蜜蜂行为加速成熟,对殖民地生存有潜在的影响。然而,在真实的田间条件下,由食物短缺介导的行为成熟的程度知之甚少,以及半自然栖息地的存在是否可以缓解这种情况。这里,我们监测了寿命(LSP),第一次出口年龄(AFE),觅食任期,沿着农田半自然栖息地的景观梯度,1035只蜜蜂的觅食强度。我们发现在食物短缺季节,蜜蜂的行为成熟明显加速,AFE早熟6至10天,LSP降低5至9天,对觅食期限或觅食强度没有影响。我们还发现,较高比例的半自然栖息地可使蜜蜂的行为成熟减轻长达6天。除了对成年蜜蜂的直接影响,我们发现幼虫摄食状态对成年生活史特征或觅食行为没有延迟影响。然而,我们的结果强烈主张实施旨在增加半自然环境覆盖率的政策(例如,草原,森林,树篱)在密集的农业景观中,以支持蜜蜂的生存和传粉媒介的保护。
Landscape simplification and the loss of semi-natural habitats are identified as important drivers of insect pollinator decline in farmlands, by disrupting the availability of floral resources and facilitating the occurrence of food shortages. Food shortages can lead to accelerated behavioral maturation in honey bees, with potential consequences for colony survival. However, little is known about the magnitude of behavioral maturation mediated by to food shortage under real field conditions, and whether it could be mitigated by the presence of semi-natural habitats. Here, we monitored the lifespan (LSP), age at first exit (AFE), foraging tenure, and foraging intensity of 1035 honey bees along a landscape gradient of semi-natural habitats in farmlands. We found a clear acceleration of behavioral maturation of bees during the food shortage season, with precocity in AFE between 6 and 10 days earlier and reduced LSP by 5 to 9 days, with no effect on foraging tenure or foraging intensity. We also found that higher proportions of semi-natural habitats mitigated behavioral maturation of bees by up to 6 days. Beyond the direct effects on adult bees, we found no delayed effect of larval feeding status on adult life-history traits or foraging behavior. Nevertheless, our results strongly advocate the implementation of policies aimed at increasing the coverage of semi-natural environments (e.g., grasslands, forests, hedgerows) in intensive agricultural landscapes to support honey bee survival and pollinator conservation.