BEES, HONEY AND TERRITORY: A COMPLEX NETWORK OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN LANDSCAPE, BEEKEEPING AND HONEY QUALITY

From ecological, economic and cultural perspectives, bees are among the most important groups of insects. This is due to their central role in pollination pro-cesses and the production of numerous hive products. The genus Apis and the tribe Meliponini, which includes stingless bees, are fundamental components of natural and agricultural systems. Through pollination, they contribute to main-taining plant biodiversity and ensuring stable food production worldwide. However, bee populations have become increasingly exposed to multiple stressors in recent decades, including climate change, agricultural intensifica-tion, habitat loss, pollution, and the spread of pathogens. Many of these stress-ors are closely associated with human activities and beekeeping practices. Against this backdrop, the thesis entitled “Bees, Honey and Territory: A Complex Network of Interactions between Landscape, Beekeeping and Honey Quality”, aims to analyse the relationships between bees, floral resources, land-scape structure, and honey quality. The research takes an integrated approach, combining ecological, sanitary, productive and territorial considerations. The main objective is to understand how interactions between pollinating in-sects, environmental conditions and beekeeping management influence the composition of honey and the health of bee communities. Particular attention is given to the interactions between domesticated and wild pollinators, and to the role of territory in shaping the characteristics of apicultural products. Bees of the genus Apis are among the most extensively studied pollinators worldwide, playing a crucial role in plant reproduction and agricultural produc-tivity. Apis mellifera in particular has undergone a long process of domestication and is now distributed across almost all continents, providing valuable ecologi-cal and economic pollination services. However, the growing number of man-aged colonies, particularly in urban and semi-natural environments, has given rise to new ecological concerns. These include the competition with wild polli-nators for floral resources and the transmission pathogens between managed and wild species, which could alter pollination networks and affect the stability of native communities. Meanwhile, stingless bees (Meliponini) are among the most important polli-nator groups in tropical and subtropical regions. They play a vital role in the functioning of natural ecosystems and the pollination of numerous tropical crops. Despite their ecological and cultural importance, they face similar threats to honeybees, including habitat degradation, exposure to agrochemicals and transmission of pathogens. Furthermore, despite the long-standing tradition of meliponiculture in many tropical countries, scientific knowledge of the charac-teristics of stingless bee honeys is limited, particularly in highly biodiverse re-gions such as Bolivia. This highlights the need for integrated studies linking honey composition to ecological and territorial factors. Within this framework, the thesis explores the intricate connections between pollinators, plant resources, landscape structure, and the characteristics of hon-ey. Not only is honey a food product resulting from the biological activity of bees, it is also a reflection of the ecological context in which it is produced. By collecting nectar and pollen from various plant species across diverse land-scapes, bees combine floral resources on a territorial scale. This results in honeys with specific chemical, physical, and sensory characteristics that are closely linked to their botanical and geographical origin. Consequently, honey can be interpreted as a territorial product reflecting environmental conditions and bee-keeping practices. A central theme of the thesis is the interaction between domesticated honey-bees and wild pollinators. The intensification of beekeeping and the global spread of Apis mellifera have altered pollination networks and the availability of floral resources. In certain contexts, high densities of managed colonies can re-duce the availability of resources for wild species and increase the likelihood of pathogens being transmitted across different taxa. These processes, often re-ferred to as competition and pathogen spillover, pose significant challenges to pollinator conservation. Therefore, understanding these dynamics is essential for developing sustainable management strategies that balance apicultural pro-duction with biodiversity protection. Another key aspect of the research relates to the connection between honey and territory. Bees forage over spatially variable areas, collecting nectar and pol-len from a variety of plant species. The resulting honeys have distinctive chemi-cal compositions and sensory properties that reflect the botanical and geograph-ical characteristics of the area in which the bees foraged. By analysing pollen content and physicochemical parameters, foraging patterns can be reconstructed and honey can be interpreted as an ecological indicator of the landscape ex-plored by bees. In this sense, honey acts as a biological archive, capable of re-cording information about plant communities, environmental conditions, and land use. The thesis also addresses the broader issues of pollinator conservation and the sustainability of beekeeping practices. Anthropogenic pressures, including climate change, habitat fragmentation, pesticide exposure and pathogen spread, are increasingly endangering bee populations worldwide. These stressors often act synergistically, compromising both managed colonies and wild pollinator communities. Overall, the thesis takes a systemic approach to examining the relationships between bees, the landscape and honey production. It emphasises that the quali-ty and characteristics of honey are influenced by the intricate interplay of eco-logical processes, geographical features and management practices. By linking pollinator ecology, pathogen dynamics and honey characterisation, the research improves our understanding of the connections between biodiversity, apiculture and food quality. By emphasising the role of territory in shaping honey characteristics and pol-linator health, the thesis supports the development of sustainable management practices that consider interactions between environmental conditions, beekeep-ing strategies, and product quality.