RT Journal Article
T1 Detection of Microsporidia in Pollinator Communities of a Mediterranean Biodiversity Hotspot for Wild Bees
A1 Martínez López, Vicente
A1 Ruiz, Carlos
A1 Muñoz, Irene
A1 Ornosa, Concepción
A1 Higes, Mariano
A1 Martín Hernández, Raquel
A1 Rúa, Pilar de la
AB Insect pollination is crucial for the maintenance of natural and managed ecosystems but the functioning of this ecosystem service is threatened by a worldwide decline of pollinators. Key factors in this situation include the spread and interspecific transmission of pathogens worldwide through the movement of managed pollinators. Research on this field has been mainly conducted in some particular species, while studies assessing the interspecific transmission of pathogens at a community level are scarce. However, this information is pivotal to design strategies to protect pollinators. Herein, we analysed the prevalence of two common microsporidia pathogens of managed honey bees (Nosema ceranae and N. apis) in bee communities of semiarid Mediterranean areas from the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Our results confirm the ability of N. ceranae to disperse across wild bee communities in semiarid Mediterranean ecosystems since it was detected in 36 Apoidea species (39% of the sampling; for the first time in nine genera). The prevalence of the pathogen did not show any phylogenetic signal which suggests a superfamily host range of the pathogen or that wild bees may be acting only as vectors of N. ceranae. In addition, N. apis was detected in an Eucera species, which is the second time it has been detected by molecular techniques in a host other than the honey bee. Our study represents the primary assessment of the prevalence of microsporidia at community level in Mediterranean areas and provides outstanding results on the ability of Nosema pathogens to spread across the landscape.
PB Springer Link
SN 0095-3628
YR 2021
FD 2021-09-29
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4901
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4901
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC)
NO Asociación Española de Ecologia Terrestre (AEET)
NO Fundación Séneca (Murcia)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 18 abr 2025