Effects of floral resources on honey bee populations in Mexico: Using dietary metabarcoding to examine landscape quality in agroecosystems

摘要: The decline of honey bee populations significantly impacts the human food supply due to poor pollination and yield decreases of essential crop species. Given the reduction of pollinators, research into critical landscape components, such as floral resource availability and land use change, might provide valuable information about the nutritional status and health of honey bee colonies. To address this issue, we examine the effects of landscape factors like agricultural area, urban area, and climatic factors, including maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation, on honey bee hive populations and nutritional health of 326 honey bee colonies across varying landscapes in Mexico. DNA metabarcoding facilitated the precise identification of pollen from 267 plant species, encompassing 243 genera and 80 families, revealing a primary herb‐based diet. Areas characterized by high …