From neglect to stardom: how the rising popularity of stingless bees threatens diversity and meliponiculture in Mexico

Mexico is part of the Mesoamerican region where ancient bee keeping (meliponiculture, or stingless bee keeping) emerged and reached exceptional levels. Different events caused Mexican stingless bee keeping to decline. Recently, meliponiculture has modernized and is undergoing a dramatic change, risi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Apidologie 2022-12, Vol.53 (6), Article 70
Main Authors: Quezada-Euán, José Javier G., May-Itzá, William J., de la Rúa, Pilar, Roubik, David W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apiculture
Bees
Biodiversity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Commercialization
Ecology
Entomology
Indigenous species
Life Sciences
Meliponini
Modernization
Pets
Pollination
Population differentiation
Pricing
Review Article
Social networks
Social organization
Translocation
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Summary:Mexico is part of the Mesoamerican region where ancient bee keeping (meliponiculture, or stingless bee keeping) emerged and reached exceptional levels. Different events caused Mexican stingless bee keeping to decline. Recently, meliponiculture has modernized and is undergoing a dramatic change, rising from neglect to an alarming popularity. The increase in commerce and number of species under management fundamentally affect, and are influenced by, translocation of colonies across geographic regions. Moreover, the social networks that propel commercialization create the impression that maintaining bees as resources or pets and promoting honey and other commercial products at premium prices are inherently desirable. The ecology of pollination in nature is rarely considered, nor the ecological network of the bee populations and their many associated organisms and ecological processes. With growing numbers and types of bee keepers and bee keeping methods, changes are posing novel risks to the integrity of native species. Such emerging factors may certainly impact biodiversity of Mexican stingless bees and the sustainability of meliponiculture. We examine findings on population differentiation among Mexican bees and measures urgently needed in the short term, with possible application in other regions of the world that experience problems caused by the modern stingless bee boom.
ISSN:0044-8435
1297-9678
DOI:10.1007/s13592-022-00975-w