When bio is not green: the impacts of bumblebee translocation and invasion on native ecosystems.

LOHRMANN JOSEFINA, CECCHETTO NICOLÁS, AIZEN NAHUEL, ARBETMAN MARINA P., ZATTARA EDUARDO E.

CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources

CABI international

Año: 2022 vol. 17

Adequate pollination is fundamental to optimize reproduction and yield of most flowering plants,including many staple food crops. Plants depending on insect pollination rely heavily on many wildspecies of solitary and social bees, and declines or absence of bees often hampers crop productivity,prompting supplementation of pollination services with managed bees. Though honeybees are themost widely deployed managed pollinators, many high-value crops are pollinated more efficiently bybumblebees (Bombus spp.), prompting domestication and commercial rearing of several species. Thisled to a blooming international trade that translocated species outside their native range, where theyescaped management and invaded the ecosystems around their deployment sites. Here, we brieflyreview the history of bumblebee invasions and their main impacts on invaded ecosystems, and closeby discussing alternatives to the use of commercially reared bumblebees to enhance crop pollination.As evidence of widespread negative effects on local ecosystems of bumblebee invasions builds up,bumblebee trade adds to the list of examples of ?biological? strategies devised to solve agriculturalproblems that ended up being far from the ?green,? eco-friendly solutions they were expected to be.