Apis mellifera is the worldwide most important pollinator of crops, and a keystone species for most of the angiosperms (flowering plants) which constitute our feeding, making it crucial to our health and survival. The composition and configuration of the landscape in which Apis mellifera lives will likely determine its well being and the pollination service it can provide to the crops. Here we built a spatially explicit model which predicts the spatial distribution of visits to crop of Apis mellifera by simulating each day the trips of honey bees in the crops , the demographical dynamic of each hive , and their honey production. This model goes beyond existing approaches by including 1) a flower resource affected by the nectar and pollen extractionby the pollinators, 2) a pollinator growth dynamic which allows competition through short term resource depletion, 3) a probabilistic approach of the foraging behavior, modeling the fact that the pollinator has only a partial knowledge of the resource on its surroundings, and 4) the unique foraging habits of Apis mellifera regarding its election of foraging sites. With this simple but quite realistic model we show the importance of keeping a minimal fraction of natural habitat in an agricultural landscape. We also evaluate the effects of the landscape structure on the pollination, and demonstrate that it exists an optimal size of natural habitat patches which maximize the pollination service for a fixed fraction of natural habitat . Finally, we reveal the effect of the distinct ways of mixing culture on the number of visits to the crop .
Apis mellifera plays a crucial role as pollinator of the majority of crops linked to food production and thus its presence is currently fundamental to our health and survival. The composition and configuration of the landscape in which Apis mellifera lives will likely determine the well-being of the hives and the pollination service that their members can provide to the crops. Here we present a spatially explicit model that predicts the spatial distribution of visits by Apis mellifera to crops, by simulating daily trips of honey bees , the demographical dynamic of each hive and their honey production. This model goes beyond existing approaches by including 1) a flower resource affected by the feedback interaction between nectar extraction, pollination, blossoming and repeated visits, 2) a pollinators dynamic that allows competition through short term resource depletion, 3) a probabilistic approach of the foraging behavior, modeling the fact that the pollinators have only partial knowledge of the resource on their surroundings, and 4) the specific and systematic foraging behavior and strategies of Apis mellifera at the moment of choosing foraging sites, as opposed to those adopted by solitary and wild pollinators. With a balance between simplicity and realism we show the importance of keeping a minimal fraction of natural habitat in an agricultural landscape. We also evaluate the effects of the landscape 's structure on pollination, and demonstrate that there exists an optimal size of natural habitat patches that maximizes the pollination service for a fixed fraction of natural habitat .
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