Competition between native bees and honey bees on mānuka flowers in New Zealand

• Main Author: Fale, Grant
• Other Authors: Painting, Chrissie
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Waikato 2023
• Subjects: New Zealand; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/16510

Humans have introduced the European subspecies of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) to every other continent except Antarctica, resulting in the presence of this generalist forager many ecosystems that honey bees are not native to. The impacts of introduced honey bees on these ecosystems are still not well understood. Honey bees were introduced to New Zealand in 1839, and are common visitors to native flowers throughout the country. As honey bees are generalist flower visitors and can present at high abundances, they could potentially be competing with and displacing native flower visitors. The aim of this study was to investigate interactions and possible competition between European-derived honey bees (A. mellifera sspp.) and native bee species (Leioproctus spp) for mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) floral resources in New Zealand. I assessed a) temporal overlap in activity, b) abundances across time of day, and c) foraging behaviours of honey bees and Leioproctus bees. In a combination of field observations and behaviour experiments I found that a) temporal niche partitioning occurs daily and seasonally and b) both Leioproctus sp and honey bees display behavioural changes in the presence of the other. My observations suggest that competition does occur between honey bees and Leioproctus sp and that both alter their foraging behaviour and activity to reduce this competition. However, more research is required to assess this interspecific competition is great enough to adversely affect either species. Evidence-based understanding of the impacts of honey bees in native ecosystems is critical to our ability to improve honey bee management strategies and/or mitigate adverse effects of honey bee competition to endemic species where honey bees have been introduced.