What progress is being made on the 'carrying capacity' of an environment? Just banning beekeeping might not save the (other) bees if the area is already depleted of resources. Alternatively, how many more flowers (etc) need to be added to allow both natives and honey bees to thrive? 1/3 - ThreadSky

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theapiarist.org • 95 days ago

What progress is being made on the 'carrying capacity' of an environment? Just banning beekeeping might not save the (other) bees if the area is already depleted of resources. Alternatively, how many more flowers (etc) need to be added to allow both natives and honey bees to thrive? 1/3

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carlyziter.bsky.social•95 days ago

We were hoping to study that exact question (and we didn’t advocate for banning beekeeping…). However, there is no spatially explicitly hive registry here, and local companies that manage the majority of hives weren’t willing to share their data.

carlyziter.bsky.social•95 days ago

I think regulations that limit hive density can be a great compromise in urban areas. I just wish we had better data on where the hives are now to try and address that question more specifically!

theapiarist.org•95 days ago

Thanks ... that's a pity. The spatial data coupled with the previous Montreal floral mapping would have been a good start.

theapiarist.org•95 days ago

2/3 I'm aware of a few studies (e.g. Henry & Rodet 2018 https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41598-018-27591-y) and appreciate this is not a simple question - variable forage, variable seasons, variable latitudes etc. Whilst 'any' competition might not be avoidable, managing it or mitigating it might be.

theapiarist.org•95 days ago

3/3 Finally, the Steffan-Dewenter and Tscharntke, 2000; Torné-Noguera et al., 2016 studies suggest 3-3.5 hives/km2, but were not urban studies, and - arguably - were rather specialised environments. PS Nice paper 😀which I discussed on my blog last year ... https://theapiarist.org/too-many-honey-bees-in-town/

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