Data from: Nesting sites of giant honey bees modulated by landscape patterns

1. The composition of agro-ecological landscapes is thought to have important implications for the production of major crops through its effects on pollinator abundance and behaviour. 2. We explored the roles of land cover and land cover heterogeneity on bee nest distribution for Apis dorsata, a key species for coffee pollination, in a complex agroforest landscape. We emphasized scaling and non-uniform effects by combining two different approaches of spatial analysis, the point-pattern analysis and surface-pattern analysis. 3. We found non-exclusive, positive effects of agroforests, forest fragments and land cover heterogeneity on the presence and number of nests. The distribution of nests responded to habitat heterogeneity at small scale (<100m), forest fragments at medium scale (<300 m) and to agroforest at larger scales (500 m to 2 km). Our multi approach highlights that the landscape effects were neither linear nor uniform within the study zone. Nests were consistently located in areas of medium agroforest density or medium to high forest density, but were absent where forest fragments are the most concentrated. 4. The agroforest matrix was particularly important in shaping the size of nest aggregates. Nests tended to be few when there is low tree cover at broad scale, while nests were numerous when agroforest patches are abundant within the bees’ foraging range. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our study revealed that structurally complex landscapes appear to support bee populations. The spatial arrangement of different land covers affected honeybee nest distributions by providing nesting and foraging resources across multiple scales. The results suggest that continued intensification of small forest fragments and expansion of large monospecies plantations will be deleterious to Apis dorsata populations. Fragmentation of the agroforestry matrix at small scales (100s meters) does not, however, appear detrimental for Apis dorsata as long as sufficient diversified resources are available at the landscape scale (kms).22-Sep-2017

1. 农业生态景观(agro-ecological landscapes)的组成结构被认为可通过影响传粉昆虫(pollinator)的种群丰度与行为模式，对主要农作物的生产产生重要调控作用。2. 本研究于一处复杂的农林复合景观(agroforest landscape)中，针对咖啡传粉的关键物种——大蜜蜂(Apis dorsata)，探究了土地覆被(land cover)及其异质性(land cover heterogeneity)对其蜂巢分布的调控效应。研究结合点格局分析(point-pattern analysis)与表面格局分析(surface-pattern analysis)两种空间分析手段，重点解析了尺度效应与非均匀性影响。3. 研究结果显示，农林复合系统、森林片段与土地覆被异质性对蜂巢的存在与否及种群数量均存在非排他性的正向影响。蜂巢分布对小尺度（<100米）的生境异质性、中尺度（<300米）的森林片段以及大尺度（500米至2千米）的农林复合系统均呈现显著响应。本研究的多方法分析框架表明，研究区域内的景观效应既非线性也不统一：蜂巢始终分布于中等农林复合密度或中高森林密度的区域，但在森林片段最为集中的区域则无蜂巢分布。4. 农林复合景观基质(agroforest matrix)对巢群(nest aggregates)的规模具有尤为关键的调控作用：当大尺度下的树木覆被率较低时，蜂巢数量偏少；而当蜜蜂觅食范围(foraging range)内存在大量农林复合斑块时，蜂巢数量则较为丰富。5. 总结与应用。本研究揭示，结构复杂的景观能够有效支撑蜜蜂种群的存续。不同土地覆被类型的空间配置通过在多尺度上提供筑巢与觅食资源，进而影响大蜜蜂的蜂巢分布格局。研究结果表明，小型森林片段的持续破碎化以及大型单一种植园(monospecies plantations)的扩张，将对大蜜蜂种群产生不利影响。不过，只要景观尺度（千米级）下存在充足的多样化资源，小尺度（百米级）的农林复合景观基质碎片化并不会对大蜜蜂种群造成损害。2017年9月22日