About the Authors

Michelle A. Taylor

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

michelle.taylor@plantandfood.co.nz

Affiliation Bee Biology & Productivity, Productive Biodiversity and Pollination, The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Hamilton, New Zealand

Alastair W. Robertson

Roles Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Wildlife & Ecology, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Patrick J. Biggs

Roles Data curation, Software, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Molecular Epidemiology & Public Health Laboratory, Infectious Disease Research Centre, School of Veterinary Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, Bioinformatics and Statistics Group, School of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Kate K. Richards

Roles Formal analysis, Visualization

Affiliation Statistical Science, Data Science, The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Auckland, New Zealand

Daniel F. Jones

Roles Data curation

Affiliation Bioinformatics, Molecular & Digital Breeding, The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Auckland, New Zealand

Shanthi G. Parkar

Roles Formal analysis, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Microbiome & Metabolism, Food Nutrition & Health, The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Competing Interests

We have the following interests as this study received funding from New Zealand Apples & Pears Inc, Honey New Zealand (International) Limited, seven regional New Zealand Beekeeping clubs, Beeline Apiaries, Arataki Honey, Hawke’s Bay, Galatea Apiaries, and NZ Beeswax Ltd. The invert sugar used in the research was supplied free of charge by Natural Sugars NZ. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.