Apples are a major crop globally, including in Tasmania (Australia) – known as ‘the Apple Isle’ owing to the key role of apples in Tasmania's history and economy. Most apple cultivars are obligate entomophilous species, and fruit quantity, quality and economic value are enhanced under insect pollination. Whilst the introduced European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is often assumed to be the main pollinator of apple in most regions of the world, including Australia, there is an increasing interest in alternative pollinators. The pollinator community of Tasmanian apple crops, however, has never been assessed. In this study, we surveyed four apple orchards for 3 days each during peak bloom in the Huon Valley region to characterise bee assemblages visiting blooming apple trees and the native bee fauna associated with surrounding flowering vegetation. Our results show that honey bees were the predominant visitors to apple blossoms (90.7% of visits), followed by the introduced bumble bee Bombus terrestris (5.9% of visits), with only a minor contribution by native bees (3.3% of visits). Twenty-six species of native bees were collected in total, of which only 10 species (five Exoneura (Apidae), four Lasioglossum (Halictidae) and one Euryglossa (Colletidae) species) were collected from apple blossoms, with Exoneura being the most abundant visitors. Few native bees were captured on apple blossoms, however co-blooming surrounding native vegetation, as well exotic flowers, hosted a high diversity and abundance of native bees. Site conditions influenced community composition, including abundance and representation of introduced bees compared to native bees visiting apples. Additionally, warmer temperatures favoured native bees. Collectively, our results suggest that Tasmania's apple production in its current state is unlikely to rely exclusively on native pollinators. Native bees nevertheless warrant conservation in such an insular crop production system. This can be achievable through retaining native flowering plants and even exotic non-crop flowers in and around orchards. Promoting the diversity and abundance of native bees through habitat enhancement may have additional benefits, such as filling current and future pollination demands and gaps, a key strategy under scenarios of climate change.

中文翻译：

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蜜蜂（膜翅目：蜂科）在塔斯马尼亚苹果园的数量超过本地蜜蜂：平衡作物生产和本地蜜蜂保护的观点

苹果是全球的主要作物，包括在塔斯马尼亚（澳大利亚）——由于苹果在塔斯马尼亚的历史和经济中的关键作用而被称为“苹果岛”。大多数苹果栽培品种为专性虫媒种，在昆虫授粉下果实数量、质量和经济价值均有所提高。虽然引进的欧洲蜜蜂（Apis mellifera) 在世界大部分地区，包括澳大利亚，通常被认为是苹果的主要传粉媒介，人们对替代传粉媒介的兴趣越来越大。然而，从未对塔斯马尼亚苹果作物的授粉群体进行评估。在这项研究中，我们在 Huon Valley 地区盛开的高峰期对四个苹果园进行了为期 3 天的调查，以表征访问盛开的苹果树和与周围开花植被相关的本地蜜蜂动物群的蜜蜂组合。我们的结果表明，蜜蜂是苹果花的主要访客（占访问量的 90.7%），其次是引入的大黄蜂Bombus terrestris（占访问量的 5.9%），只有本地蜜蜂的贡献很小（占访问量的 3.3%）。二十六个物种天然蜂收集在总，其中只有10种（5 Exoneura（蜜蜂科），四Lasioglossum（集蜂科）和一个Euryglossa（分舌花蜂科）物种）从苹果花收集，用Exoneura成为最丰富的游客。很少有本地蜜蜂在苹果花上被捕获，但是周围的本地植被以及异国情调的花朵共同开花，容纳了高度多样性和丰富的本地蜜蜂。场地条件影响了群落组成，包括与访问苹果的本地蜜蜂相比，引入蜜蜂的数量和代表性。此外，温暖的温度有利于本地蜜蜂。总的来说，我们的结果表明，塔斯马尼亚州目前的苹果生产不太可能完全依赖本地传粉媒介。尽管如此，本土蜜蜂还是需要在这样一个与世隔绝的作物生产系统中得到保护。这可以通过在果园内和周围保留本地开花植物甚至异国情调的非作物花卉来实现。