Urban landscapes tend to increase the presence of pathogenic protozoa, microsporidia and viruses, but likely decrease the abundance of viruses in wild bees and wasps.

ABSTRACT: Pathogens are shared between wild bees and wasps but little is known about how urbanization affects their occurrence. Here, the role of temperature and fragmentation of green areas, both associated with urbanization, in modulating pathogen loads was investigated. Twelve pathogens were investigated in the bees Anthophora plumipes Pallas, 1772, Halictus scabiosae (Rossi, 1790), Osmia cornuta (Latreille, 1805), and the wasp Polistes dominula (Christ, 1791) sampled across an urbanization gradient in a metropolitan area of northern Italy. Overall, the relative presence/abundance of the pathogens were found to be species specific, as were the responses to urbanization. Anthophora plumipes and O. cornuta had a higher occurrence probability of the neogregarine protozoan Apicystis bombi in more fra

SUBMITTER: Ferrari A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12717336 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature