Living with native honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica) as a way to drive multispecies cooperation: examples from a small-scale beekeeping project in central Italy
研究了意大利中部一个小规模养蜂项目如何通过本土蜜蜂、养蜂人和景观的互动，推动可持续养蜂实践和多物种合作，为生物多样性保护和生态系统恢复提供参考。
This paper aims to elucidate (i) how beekeepers deal with issues of biodiversity loss and pollinator decline in landscapes where honeybees are native species ( Apis mellifera ligustica) ; (ii) if and how beekeeping practices undergo local adaptations together with changing landscapes, and (iii), being the network humans-bees-landscapes so locally-dependent, how and to what extent, local beekeeping practices foster sustainability and conservation pathways. By relying on local stakeholder knowledge and experiences, and following transdisciplinary methodologies, we analyzed the practices of a small-scale beekeeping project in the Lazio region known as the Buono Project. Our results show that the three main actors (i.e., native Italian honeybees, beekeepers, and landscapes) that come together in the global scene seem to weave with each other on the local scale. Altogether, the Buono Project conveys sustainable ways of practicing beekeeping by building a “life with the bees.” These ways involve managing only native Italian bees using organic procedures, avoiding genetic contamination with commercial hybrids, minimizing interventions on the hives, monitoring relationships with other wild pollinators, and planting native vegetation species. These examples highlight how professional beekeeping can be a sector aligned with conservation pathways and even push its boundaries to co-produce the multispecies cooperation necessary to positively impact whole ecosystems.