DOI: 10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4r9n
title: Honeybees interfere with wild bees in apple pollination in China

description: Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are increasingly used in commercial
 crop production, while wild bees are also important pollinators. Few
 studies have investigated the relative importance of honeybees and wild
 bees for apple pollination and whether the contribution of wild bees is
 affected by increasing numbers of honeybees. Here, we conducted
 experiments in 52 commercially important Fuji apple orchards across three
 apple production areas in China, to investigate how wild bees, honeybees,
 and their interaction influences apple quantity (fruit set) and quality
 (fruit weight, seed number). Both honeybees and wild bees contributed to
 apple production, resulting in an overall 996%, 26,% and 64% increase in
 apple fruit set, fruit weight, and seed number, respectively. We found a
 hump-shaped relationship between bee density and fruit set and fruit
 weight with the maximum fruit set at intermediate bee density, but
 honeybees reached the maximum only with one and a half times higher
 numbers than wild bees. Furthermore, when honeybee activity density was
 low, an increase in wild bee activity density and species richness led to
 enhanced pollination contribution. Conversely, when honeybee activity
 density was high, increased wild bee activity density and species richness
 were associated with reduced pollination contribution. Additionally, the
 highest fruit set was observed at high densities of wild bees and
 intermediate densities of honeybees.  Synthesis and applications:
 Both honeybees and wild bees contribute to apple pollination and
 production, but wild bees evidenced much higher pollination efficiency
 than honeybees. Importantly, introducing a high density of honeybee
 colonies appeared to enhance competition with wild bees, decreasing their
 contribution to pollination. As the highest fruit set was found with high
 wild bee densities, but only intermediate levels of honeybee densities, it
 is important to carefully assess the number of honeybee colonies before
 the possible introduction of hives for apple production, in particular
 when wild bee diversity and density are high. Conserving wild bee
 diversity is of priority to harness pollination services in apple
 production, given their high diversity and pollination efficiency.
description: # Honeybees interfere with wild bees in apple pollination in China
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4r9n](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4r9n) #### Description of the data and file structure #### Files and variables #### File: bee\_diversity\_and\_pollination\_data.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables * region: apple production area in China * Site code: expeimental apple orchard code * ADwild: the activity density of wild bee (individual/day/orchard (9 traps)) * Chaowild: the Chao-1 value of wild bee (Dimensionless) * ADhoney:the activity density of honeybee (individual/day/orchard (9 traps)) * ADoverall: the activity density of overall bee  (individual/day/orchard (9 traps)) * PCFset1:pollination contribution values for apple fruit set (%) * PCWeight1:pollination contribution values for apple weight (g) * PCseed1:pollination contribution values for apple seed (number of seeds) * Open pollination fruitset: apple fruitset in open pollination (%) * Open pollination weight: apple weight in open pollination (g) * Open pollination seed: apple seed in open pollination (number of seeds) * bagged pollination fruitset: apple fruitset in bagged pollination (%) * bagged pollination weight: apple weight in bagged pollination (g) * bagged pollination seed: apple seed in bagged pollination (number of seeds) #### File: wild bee nmds.csv ##### Variables * region: apple production area in China * Site code: expeimental apple orchard code - abundance of wild bee species: abundance of wild bee species (individual)