Bacterial communities associated with honeybee food stores are correlated with land use
Donkersley, Philip; Rhodes, Glenn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0488-3843; Pickup, Roger W.; Jones, Kevin C.; Wilson, Kenneth.
2018
Bacterial communities associated with honeybee food stores are correlated with land use.
Ecology and Evolution, 8 (10).
4743-4756.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3999
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Abstract/Summary
Microbial communities, associated with almost all metazoans, can be inherited from the environment. Although the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) gut microbiome is well documented, studies of the gut focus on just a small component of the bee microbiome. Other key areas such as the comb, propolis, honey, and stored pollen (bee bread) are poorly understood. Furthermore, little is known about the relationship between the pollinator microbiome and its environment. Here we present a study of the bee bread microbiome and its relationship with land use. We estimated bacterial community composition using both Illumina MiSeq DNA sequencing and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Illumina was used to gain a deeper understanding of precise species diversity across samples. DGGE was used on a larger number of samples where the costs of MiSeq had become prohibitive and therefore allowed us to study a greater number of bee breads across broader geographical axes. The former demonstrates bee bread comprises, on average, 13 distinct bacterial phyla; Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Alpha‐proteobacteria, Beta‐proteobacteria, and Gamma‐proteobacteria were the five most abundant. The most common genera were Pseudomonas, Arsenophonus, Lactobacillus, Erwinia, and Acinetobacter. DGGE data show bacterial community composition and diversity varied spatially and temporally both within and between hives. Land use data were obtained from the 2007 Countryside Survey. Certain habitats, such as improved grasslands, are associated with low diversity bee breads, meaning that these environments may be poor sources of bee‐associated bacteria. Decreased bee bread bacterial diversity may result in reduced function within hives. Although the dispersal of microbes is ubiquitous, this study has demonstrated landscape‐level effects on microbial community composition.
Item Type: | Publication - Article |
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Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3999 |
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas: | Water Resources (Science Area 2017-) |
ISSN: | 2045-7758 |
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.: | Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link. |
Additional Keywords: | 16S rRNA, bacterial community, DGGE, honeybees, Illumina MiSeq, land use |
NORA Subject Terms: | Ecology and Environment Biology and Microbiology |
Date made live: | 15 May 2018 10:18 +0 (UTC) |
URI: | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/520075 |
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