Beekeeping in a natural area affects male fitness of a native plant: Larrea divaricata male fitness

Abstract

Data used to evaluate the effect of honeybees on the male fitness (pollen removal and dispersal) of Larrea divaricata in a dryland reserve in Argentina. Experimental design: In 2022, we worked with beekeepers to establish five beekeeping sites (25 hives at each site) and, from each beekeeping site, we established a 1 km transect with two sampling points: one near (200 m) and one far (1000 m) from managed hives. Sampling: To evaluate the effect of the introduction of honeybee hives on pollen removal in L. divaricata, in 2022 we selected 15 individual plants at each sampling point. In each individual, we selected two branches with ten blossoms and applied a treatment: bagged (pollina tor exclusion) and unbagged (open pollination). Once the flowers had opened, we collected five stamens per treatment and stored them in Eppendorf tubes with 70% alcohol. In the laboratory, we counted the pollen grains in a Neubauer chamber under a microscope. From these data, we estimated the remaining pollen grains in each treatment. To assess the effect of the introduction of hives on pollen flow, we used fluorescent dye (Radha Colors) as pollen analogues to measure dispersal, as they are suitable for this type of study. We estimated the self-pollination rate (percentage of flowers with fluorescent dye from the same individual), the outcrossing rate (percentage of flowers with fluorescent dye from another individual), the number of mating couples, the number of self-pollinated flowers, and the pollen dispersal distance. For more information, see: Pascual Tdanca, M. P., Medero, A. V., Vázquez, D. P. (2025). Beekeeping in a natural area affects male fitness of a native plant: Data and metadata of Larrea divaricata male fitness as function of honeybee distance. Figshare repository: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25351933