To Bee or Not to Bee: Managing Feral Bees in Remnant Woodlands

Home 🞂 Newsroom 🞂 To Bee or Not to Bee: Managing Feral Bees in Remnant Woodlands

European Honey Bees were introduced into Australia in 1822, and over the last 200 years have become both a valued part of Australia’s ecosystems and a feral pest. 

Initially, these bees were valued for their honey production and the agricultural services they provide in pollinating crops like canola and lupins. However, once introduced, it wasn’t long before bee swarms escaped, established in the landscape and earned their stripes as feral bees.

Photo credit: Suzi Moore

Now 200 years on, wide scale historic land clearing for urban development or agriculture has left the landscape fragmented and highly modified. The majority of intact bushland and native fauna habitat in Western Australia is preserved in the state reserve system or as isolated patches on private farm land. The impacts of the scale and severity of this habitat loss are most devastating for the fauna that rely on these remnant patches for breeding and forage resources.

Ancient tree hollows formed over hundreds of years are a source of shelter critical to many of WA’s fauna including owls, cockatoos, small parrots, possums and bats. The loss of woodlands, such as the critically endangered Threatened Ecological Community (TEC) Eucalypt Woodlands of the WA Wheatbelt, has resulted in feral species like European Honey Bees competing for prime real estate in these hollows and posing a very real threat to a range of native species.

Many of WA’s flora species have evolved alongside a range of even more diverse native pollinators including native bees, flies, moths, butterflies, wasps, birds and mammals. In this process, specialised relationships have developed between pollinators and flora, from mimicking sex hormones to explosive pollen release systems. Feral bees can have a detrimental impact on these relationships by competing for nectar resources or by interrupting unique pollination services. Feral bees also have the potential to infect valuable managed hives with Varroa mites, fungal diseases and colony collapse disorder, all of which are significant health hazards.

For more information on managing feral bees within woodlands, please contact NACC NRM’s Biodiversity Program Coordinator Jarna Kendle.

E jarna.kendle@nacc.com.au | P (08) 9938 0108 | M 0477 177 164

This project is jointly funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and NACC NRM, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

Jarna Kendle – Biodiversity Program Coordinator

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