The density of feral honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in South East Australia is greater in undisturbed than in disturbed habitats

Apis mellifera is an important pollinator but is sometimes associated with adverse effects on natural ecosystems. We surveyed pairs of disturbed and undisturbed sites across three biomes in South East Australia. We used pheromone lures to trap drones, genotyped the drones to infer the number of colonies within flight range and then estimated colony densities using synthetic sampling distributions. Estimated colony densities ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 colonies km−2 and significantly lower in agricultural land relative to national parks. We suggest that colony density may be lower in disturbed than ‘natural’ areas due to the reduced availability of nest sites and possibly pesticide usage. Because the number of colonies recommended for adequate pollination is 100–1000 colonies km−2, there are insufficient bees to provide optimal crop pollination in the areas we surveyed.