Bee pathogen sharing and prevalence are linked with flower sharing and taxonomic distance within the bee community

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Abstract Understanding pathogen sharing within wildlife communities is crucial for conservation. Bees are essential pollinators of wild plants and crops, but their populations are globally declining. Human-induced disturbances may disrupt natural host-pathogen balances, leading to context-dependent virulence. Reduced floral availability could increase pathogen transmission through intensified flower sharing. Here we investigate whether pathogen sharing and prevalence are influenced by plant sharing and mean taxonomic distance between bee species by studying 26 plant-bee and bee-pathogen networks. Common bee species were screened for viruses and unicellular pathogens. When more plant species are shared in mixed networks incorporating both visitation and pollen data, pathogen sharing and prevalence are increased in the bee-pathogen networks, particularly among related bee species. These results were mainly driven by Apicystis bombi and black queen cell virus and emphasize the importance of providing abundant and diverse floral resources to mitigate extreme resource overlap and support bee health.

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