RT Journal Article
T1 A short exposure to a semi-natural habitat alleviates the honeybee hive microbial imbalance caused by agricultural stress
A1 Gorrochategui Ortega, June
A1 Muñoz Colmenero, Ana Marta
A1 Kovačić, Marin
A1 Filipi, Janja
A1 Puškadija, Zlatko
A1 Kezić, Nikola
A1 Parejo, Melanie
A1 Büchler, Ralph
A1 Estonba, Andone
A1 Zarraonaindia, Iratxe
AB Honeybee health and the species’ gut microbiota are interconnected. Also noteworthy are the multiple niches present within hives, each with distinct microbiotas and all coexisting, which we termed “apibiome”. External stressors (e.g. anthropization) can compromise microbial balance and bee resilience. We hypothesised that (1) the bacterial communities of hives located in areas with different degrees of anthropization differ in composition, and (2) due to interactions between the multiple microbiomes within the apibiome, changes in the community of a niche would impact the bacteria present in other hive sections. We characterised the bacterial consortia of different niches (bee gut, bee bread, hive entrance and internal hive air) of 43 hives from 3 different environments (agricultural, semi-natural and natural) through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Agricultural samples presented lower community evenness, depletion of beneficial bacteria, and increased recruitment of stress related pathways (predicted via PICRUSt2). The taxonomic and functional composition of gut and hive entrance followed an environmental gradient. Arsenophonus emerged as a possible indicator of anthropization, gradually decreasing in abundance from agriculture to the natural environment in multiple niches. Importantly, after 16 days of exposure to a semi-natural landscape hives showed intermediate profiles, suggesting alleviation of microbial dysbiosis through reduction of anthropization.
PB Nature Research
YR 2022
FD 2022-11
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109461
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109461
LA eng
NO Gorrochategui-Ortega, J., Muñoz-Colmenero, M., Kovačić, M. et al. A short exposure to a semi-natural habitat alleviates the honey bee hive microbial imbalance caused by agricultural stress. Sci Rep 12, 18832 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23287-6
NO This work was funded by the Dept. of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Basque Government (Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza), R&D&I grants for the agricultural, food and fishing sectors of the Basque Autonomous Community (37-2017-00044), and the Research Group IT1233-19 of the Basque University System. JG was supported by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Basque Government (Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza) through a subsidy programme of training aid and support.
NO Eusko Jaurlaritza
DS Docta Complutense
RD 27 feb 2026