Implications of varroa mite establishment for Australian plants and their persistence

Tom Le Breton; Amy-Marie Gilpin; Chantelle Doyle; Mark K.J. Ooi

doi:10.1071/BT24020

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Next Contents Vol 73(2)

Implications of varroa mite establishment for Australian plants and their persistence

Tom Le Breton

^A ^* , Amy-Marie Gilpin ^B ^C , Chantelle Doyle ^A and Mark K.J. Ooi

^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

^B School of Science, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.

^C Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: t.lebreton@unsw.edu.au

Handling Editor: Susan Hoebee

Australian Journal of Botany 73, BT24020 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT24020

Submitted: 8 March 2024 Accepted: 3 February 2025 Published: 11 March 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

The European honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a highly abundant introduced pollinator with widely established feral populations across a large proportion of Australia. Both managed and feral populations contribute significantly to the pollination of many native plant species but have also disrupted native plant-pollinator dynamics. Varroa mite (Varroa destructor), a parasite associated with the collapse of feral or unmanaged European honeybee populations globally, has recently become established in Australia and will inevitably spread across the country. If feral honeybee populations decline significantly, there may be a range of effects on Australian native plant species, including pollination dynamics and seed set. This would have potential implications for the risks faced by native species, particularly those already threatened. However, the exact effects of a decline in feral honeybees on native plants are uncertain as the role of honeybees in Australian ecosystems is poorly understood. We identify potential consequences of the spread of varroa mite and highlight the large knowledge gaps that currently limit our understanding of the subsequent impacts on the Australian flora.

Keywords: invasion ecology, plant conservation, plant ecology, pollination, pollination biology, Varroa destructor.

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