Monitoring bee health in European agro-ecosystems using wing morphology and fat bodies

Current global change substantially threatens pollinators, which directly impacts thepollination services underpinning the stability, structure and functioning of ecosystems.Amongst these threats, many synergistic drivers, such as habitat destruction andfragmentation, increasing use of agrochemicals, decreasing resource diversity, as well asclimate change, are known to affect wild and managed bees. Therefore, reliable indicatorsfor pollinator sensitivity to such threats are needed. Biological traits, such as phenotype(e.g. shape, size and asymmetry) and storage reserves (e.g. fat body size), are importantpollinator traits linked to reproductive success, immunity, resilience and foraging efficiencyand, therefore, could serve as valuable markers of bee health and pollination servicepotential.This data paper contains an extensive dataset of wing morphology and fat body content forthe European honeybee (Apis mellifera) and the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)sampled at 128 sites across eight European countries in landscape gradients dominatedby two major bee-pollinated crops (apple and oilseed rape), before and after focal cropbloom and potential pesticide exposure. The dataset also includes environmental metricsof each sampling site, namely landscape structure and pesticide use. The data offer theopportunity to test whether variation in the phenotype and fat bodies of bees is structuredby environmental factors and drivers of global change. Overall, the dataset providesvaluable information to identify which environmental threats predominantly contribute to themodification of these traits.