RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Honeybees and pollen as indicators of alien plant species in two native forest ecosystems of an oceanic island (La Palma, Canary Islands)
A1 Nascimento Reyes, Lea de
A1 Delgado, Juan Domingo
A1 Méndez, Javier
A1 Otto, Rüdiger
A1 Arteaga, Manuel
A1 Fernández-Palacios, José María
K1 Alien species
K1 Forest ecosystems
K1 Oceanic islands
K1 Plantaciones exóticas
K1 ecosistema de bosques
K1 Islas oceánicas
AB Apis mellifera L. is a generalist pollinator present in most of the Canary Islands. When foraging, honeybeestransfer pollen grains to honey, and presence and abundance of pollen from different species can be interpreted as a signof local flora, and a cue to spread of aliens. The relative use of alien vs native species by honeybees could influence islandpollination mutualisms and/or favour alien species. Analyzing pollen content data from honey samples an approach can bemade to the relative foraging intensity on different plant communities and identify the importance of alien plant species innearby areas.Based on published information on pollen contents of honeys from beehives in La Palma, we made an indirect evaluationof the use of endemic, native and alien species by honeybees in two native forests of the island (evergreen laurel forestand Canarian pine forest).Some of the most pervasive alien plants in the Canary Islands were represented in these pollen samples. The mostfrequent species in pollen counts was Castanea sativa. Proportion of alien species’ pollen was significantly higher in thelaurel forest, while the most visited group in the pine forest was that of endemics (p < 0.05). Specific composition ofpollen samples analysed with Detrended Correspondence Analysis revealed (61.3 % variance explained) a pattern relatedto species distribution in each forest type.Pollen content has revealed the presence of alien species in forests of La Palma, some of them considered invasive. Thelaurel forest is the most threatened of both ecosystems, mainly affected by the proximity to urban areas and the presenceof intersperse arboreal plantations. The overall prevalence of aliens in the evaluated pollen data suggests that honeybeesare prone to exploit exotics, and that the selection of plant species by honeybees in this oceanic island is not random. Thismay have serious consequences for island pollination systems and favour the spread of some exotic species.
PB Bentham Open
SN 1874-3986
YR 2009
FD 2009
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/17256
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/17256
LA en
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 26-dic-2024