Georgios Goras panthakk@yahoo.gr Chrysoula Tananaki Vasileios Kanelis Christakis Tofaris Epaminontas Giannouris Nikolia Argena Sofia Gounari Andreas Thrasyvoulou 2017 The conflict of survival of Bee-eaters and of honey bees dataset https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.872356 2017-02-17T08:44:17 Georgios Goras panthakk@yahoo.gr Chrysoula Tananaki Liolios Vasileios 0000-0001-7353-2364 Kanelis Dimitrios 0000-0001-7736-4783 Christakis Tofaris Epaminontas Giannouris Nikolia Argena Sofia Gounari Rodopoulou Marianna 0000-0003-1643-4615 Andreas Thrasyvoulou 2023 The conflict between avian predators and domestic honey bees: a case study of European bee-eater ( Merops apiaster L.) preying on the honey bee ( Apis mellifera L.) in Cyprus journal article Journal of Apicultural Research 62(5) https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2022.2069642 1115-1122 Bee-eater birds (Merops apiaster) appear and remain in Cyprus for 15 days in spring and 30-40 days in autumn. During spring, their presence is almost unnoticed, but during autumn, their excessive concentrations cause damages to bee colonies and severe losses to beekeepers. Bees remain in their hives and no forage activity is documented in the whole apiary. The causes of confinement of bees into their hives remain unclear. The singing of the birds and their appearance are not the reason of the confinement of the bees. As a result of the restriction of the bees into their hives, we observed diminished queen laying, decrease of the brood and a shrink of the adult population. The internal temperature of the hive increases by 2-4°C due to the lack of the water and to the tension (stress) of the "captive" bees. The colonies cannot rear brood during fall and enter into winter with old and starving bees. Due to this, 20% of the wintering bee colonies die every year. The so-far proposed solutions to prevent bee-eaters from apiaries, such as the use of tapes, color balloons, CDs that diffract the light, recording voices of hawks and falcons, alarm cries of bee-eaters and gun shootings were tested and found ineffective to protect bees. To ensure the harmonious coexistence of birds with bees and to maintain the contribution of bees to pollination, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment of Cyprus supports financially the beekeepers and in turn through Cyprus Rural Development Program 2014-2020, the beekeepers undertook commitments to pursue methods that benefit of bees and the protection of the birds. 33.0 33.0 34.7826 34.7826 33.0 34.7826 32.4826 32.4826 vertical profile Paphos 34.7826 33.0 Cyprus 32.4826 220 CC-BY-3.0 Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ For the reasearch, three areas were chosen which were located at the district of Paphos, in southwest of Cyprus. Study area A was located at Marathounta Paphos, Cyprus (34° 46' 53.1408''N, 32° 29' 51.6048''E), where 120 bee colonies were situated. The area was on top of a hill, with low shrubs. Orchard crops and high trees were not present and bee-eaters could easily be located and counted. The electricity wires were 50 meters from the apiary. A second apiary of 85 bee colonies was located 300 meters far away from area A. Study area B was located on a hillside in Tsada Paphos, Cyprus (34° 50' 15.3384''N, 32° 28' 30.1044''E) and has 200 bee colonies. It is an agricultural area with vineyards, individual trees and small shrubs. Electricity wires passed alongside the edge of the apiary. A second apiary consisting of 35 bee colonies was situated 200 meters from area B. Study area C was located at Acheleia Paphos, Cyprus (34° 43' 43.8672''N, 32° 28' 30.1044''E), with 156 bee colonies. It was an agricultural area with citrus and annual cereals and characterized by dense grow of cypresses trees around the apiary. Electricity wires passed along the periphery of the apiary. File content Content Georgios Goras panthakk@yahoo.gr Content File name File name Georgios Goras panthakk@yahoo.gr File name File format File format Georgios Goras panthakk@yahoo.gr File format File size File size kByte size http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PATO_0000117 Georgios Goras panthakk@yahoo.gr File size [kByte] Uniform resource locator/link to file URL file Georgios Goras panthakk@yahoo.gr URL file supplement citable author107168 author107169 author107170 author60691 author60692 author60693 author60694 author60695 author60696 author60697 author60698 event2832103 geocode1600 geocode1601 geocode8128 journal8066 license101 param16143 param16144 param25541 param54251 param99583 pi60691 ref89790 term1073204 term22110 topotype3