Data_Sheet_1_Honey Bee Diversity Is Swayed by Migratory Beekeeping and Trade Despite Conservation Practices: Genetic Evidence for the Impact of Anthropogenic Factors on Population Structure.CSV

The intense admixture of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations at a global scale is mostly attributed to the widespread migratory beekeeping practices and replacement of queens and colonies with non-native races or hybrids of different subspecies. These practices are also common in Anatolia and Thrace, but their influence on the genetic make-up of the five native subspecies of honey bees has not been explored. Here, we present an analysis of 30 microsatellite markers from honey bees from six different regions in Anatolia and Thrace (N = 250 samples), with the aim of comparing the impact of: (1) migratory beekeeping, (2) queen and colony trade, and (3) conservation efforts on the genetic structure of native populations. Populations exposed to migratory beekeeping showed less allegiance than stationary ones. We found genetic evidence for migratory colonies, acting as a hybrid zone mobile in space and time, becoming vectors of otherwise local gene combinations. The effect of honey bee trade leaves very high introgression levels in native honey bees. Despite their narrow geographic range, introgression occurs mainly with the highly commercial Caucasian bees. We also measured the direction and magnitude of gene flow associated with bee trade. A comparison between regions that are open and those closed to migratory beekeeping allowed the evaluation of conservation sites as centers with limited gene flow and demonstrated the importance of establishing such isolated regions. Despite evidence of gene flow, our findings confirm high levels of geographically structured genetic diversity in four subspecies of honey bees in Turkey and emphasize the need to develop policies to maintain this diversity. Our overall results are of interest to the wider scientific community studying anthropogenic effects on the population diversity of honey bees and other insects. Our findings on the effects of migratory beekeeping, replacement of queens and colonies have implications for the conservation of honey bees, other pollinators, and invertebrates, in general, and are informative for policy-makers and other stakeholders in Europe and beyond.

全球范围内西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera L.）种群的遗传混杂程度极高，这主要源于广泛开展的转地养蜂（migratory beekeeping）活动，以及使用非本地亚种或杂交种群替换蜂王与蜂群的行为。此类行为在安纳托利亚与色雷斯地区同样普遍，但它们对当地5个本土蜜蜂亚种遗传构成的影响尚未得到探究。本研究针对采自安纳托利亚与色雷斯6个区域的250份蜜蜂样本，开展了30个微卫星标记（microsatellite markers）的分型分析，旨在对比三类因素对本土蜜蜂种群遗传结构的影响：(1)转地养蜂；(2)蜂王与蜂群贸易；(3)蜜蜂保护工作。相较于定点饲养的种群，接受转地养蜂活动的种群其遗传忠实性更低。本研究发现遗传证据表明，转地饲养的蜂群作为时空动态的杂交带，成为了原本局限于局部的基因组合的传播媒介。蜜蜂贸易带来的影响，使得本土蜜蜂种群出现了极高的基因渐渗（introgression）水平。尽管这些本土种群的地理分布范围狭窄，但基因渐渗主要发生在与商业化程度极高的高加索蜜蜂之间。本研究还量化了与蜂群贸易相关的基因流（gene flow）的方向与强度。通过对比开放转地养蜂与禁止转地养蜂的区域，本研究评估了保护区域作为有限基因流中心的有效性，并证实了建立此类隔离区域的重要性。尽管存在基因流现象，本研究结果仍证实土耳其境内4个蜜蜂亚种仍保留了高度地理结构化的遗传多样性，并强调了制定政策以维持该多样性的必要性。本研究的整体结果，对于研究人为活动对蜜蜂及其他昆虫种群多样性影响的广大科研群体具有参考价值。我们关于转地养蜂、蜂王与蜂群替换所产生影响的发现，总体上对蜜蜂、其他传粉昆虫以及无脊椎动物的保护工作具有指导意义，同时可为欧洲及全球其他地区的政策制定者与利益攸关方（stakeholders）提供参考。