Journal
JOURNAL OF PEST SCIENCE
Volume 95, Issue 2, Pages 997-1007Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s10340-021-01401-3
Keywords
Apis mellifera; Diet analysis; DNA metabarcoding; Invasive species; Taxon-specific primers; Vespa velutina
Categories
Funding
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT Portugal) [UIDB/00329/2020]
- Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [Universal 421668/2018-0, PQ 305157/2018-3]
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) [PD/BD/128351/2017, DL/2016, CEECIND/01087/2018, LISBOA01-0145-FEDER-028360/EUCLIPO]
- [PTDC/BIA-ECO/31731/2017]
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [UIDB/00329/2020, PTDC/BIA-ECO/31731/2017, PD/BD/128351/2017] Funding Source: FCT
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Through DNA metabarcoding, it was found that worker jaws and larval faecal pellets are the most effective sample types for studying Asian giant hornets' predation on honeybees, while stomachs are the least useful. The presence of honeybee DNA in all analysed colonies regardless of collection site and the variety of insect orders detected in the diet support concerns over the negative impact of Asian giant hornets on managed honeybees and pollination services provision.
The invasive Vespa velutina has been widely referred as an effective predator of honeybees. Despite the potential risk to pollination services provision and honey production, there is no accurate quantification and assessment of its real consequences for honeybees. To date, the identification of the honeybee and other insects in the diet of V. velutina has been investigated by direct observation of adult foraging or examination of food pellets. To overcome these limitations, in this study we used a DNA metabarcoding approach to evaluate the usefulness of different types of sample (jaws and stomachs collected from workers and larval faecal pellets taken from the hornet comb) to investigate the predation of V. velutina upon honeybees, and potentially on other insects. Honeybee DNA was identified in all types of samples, but larval faecal pellets retrieved the higher number of reads of honeybee DNA and the largest diversity at all taxonomic levels. Over all samples we could identify 4 orders, 9 families, 6 genera and 1 species of prey. We estimate that collecting 6 workers is sufficient to identify honeybee predation by a colony using worker's jaws. Stomachs were the least useful sample type to detect honeybee DNA. The presence of honeybee DNA in all analysed colonies irrespective of collection site, and the variety of insect orders detected in the diet support current concerns over the acknowledged negative impact of V. velutina on managed honeybees and its potential threat to pollination services provision.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available