Abstract
For several centuries, the Cévennes region in Southern France has been renowned as a “land of honey”. Beekeeping in Cévennes is characterized by lo brusc, a traditional hive that is made of a hollowed chestnuts log which is covered with a schistous stone slab called “lauze”. Log hive apiaries are a very old and rustic form of beekeeping, which was a major driver of human occupation history and landscape dynamics throughout the Cévennes. From their origins, log hives were home most exclusively to black bees (Apis mellifera mellifera) that were settled in the region far before the rise of humankind. Nowadays, beekeeping in Cévennes is mainly carried out in frame hives. Current beekeeping practices — purchase of bees, transhumance, queen selection… — have led to a drastic decrease in populations of local bee subspecies, and to their genetic homogenization. In order to better understand and preserve this remarkable natural and cultural beekeeping heritage, the Cévennes National Park implemented a multidisciplinary study, through the funding of a CIFRE (Industrial contract for training through research) doctoral research.1- The first part of the study is dedicated to the hive. Archive documents strongly support the assertion that the very first log hives that were established in Cévennes date back to the end of the Middle Age. Afterwards they expanded and were maintained until the middle of the 20th century. The shift from log hive to frame hive occurred progressively throughout the past century. Testimonies by old Cévennes inhabitants helped assessing local practices, knowledge and know-how related to these traditional apiaries. Furthermore, spatial analyses were undertaken to characterize the micro-environment surrounding apiaries. These analyses corroborate local discourses about where an apiary should ideally be set up.2- The black bee is the epicenter of the second part of the study. From the common bee to the “black and aggressive” bee, views by the beekeeping community concerning the local bee in Cévennes have evolved over the past century. Genetic analyses using geometrical morphometry and mitochondrial DNA were successively implemented to establish a state of the art of local bee populations. Morphometric data tell us that nearly 2/3rd of the bee populations of Causses and Cévennes are composed of black bees. However, mitochondrial DNA data alert us on the high level of introgression within these populations. Such introgression equally affects bees kept in frame hives and those kept in log hives.3- The third part of the study addresses the sensitive issue of a conservation strategy of local beekeeping patrimony that is carried out by the public development agency of the Cévennes National Park. Past conservationist resources and actions are described and so are the perspectives and obstacles to a valuable conservation strategy of black bees and log hives in a context of protected area. In conclusion, the study advocates for an indispensable multi-stakeholder conciliation and a necessary integration of several types of knowledge — local ecological knowledge, knowledge from learned experts, scientific knowledge — that takes into consideration the social, economical and ecological changes affecting the overall Cévennes region.