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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
Beekeeping plays a vital role in biodiversity conservation and local economy development, as bees are key pollinators of numerous wild plant species and agricultural crops. Accordingly, understanding the suitability of rural territories is essential to provide an overview on bee activity and support the development of more sustainable beekeeping practices. This study presents an enhanced multicriteria approach for mapping beekeeping suitability, applied to a Portuguese region renowned for its honey with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). The methodology integrates topographic, environmental and climatic criteria closely linked to bee ecology, whose relevance was prioritised in each category following expert perceptions and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). For these criteria, high-quality spatial data were compiled and processed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to evaluate landscape favourable conditions and limiting factors for beekeeping. Results indicate a comparable and significant influence of environmental and climatic criteria (43% each) relative to topographic ones (14%). Within each category, hillside exposure (63%), flora (53%) and rainfall (50%) contributions are particularly remarkable in defining the beekeeping suitability. When crossing the final suitability map with the apiary influence range, most apiaries were found in areas classified as very high suitability. This information provides valuable insights for beekeepers and policymakers, helping to optimize the beekeeping management and enhance the honey quality, particularly in PDO areas. Moreover, the proposed approach offers a scalable and adaptable framework that can be applied to other regions with beekeeping potential.
Descrição
The authors are grateful to the beekeeping sector experts for their participation in the questionnaire for criteria prioritisation, and the municipalities of Bragança and Vinhais, National Federation of Beekeepers of Portugal (FNAP), and Institute for Financing Agriculture and Fisheries (IFAP) for kindly providing the datasets that supported this research.
Palavras-chave
Honey PDO region Bee ecology Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) High-quality spatial data Sustainable beekeeping
Contexto Educativo
Citação
SILVEIRA, Carlos [et al.] (2025) - Integrating multicriteria decision analysis for beekeeping suitability: insights from a Portuguese honey PDO landscape. Earth Systems and Environment. DOI: 10.1007/s41748-025-00860-3
Editora
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Licença CC
Sem licença CC