Comunidade de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) e plantas em uma área do Agreste pernambucano, Brasil

Abstract

Em 1967, Sakagami e colaboradores sugeriram uma metodologia padronizada para amostragem de comunidades de abelhas e suas plantas associadas e, a partir de então, diversos estudos seguindo essa metodologia foram realizados em diferentes regiões do Brasil. A região sul-sudeste foi, a princípio, a mais estudada com trabalhos de Sakagami & Laroca (1971), Laroca et al. (1982), Camargo & Mazucato (1984), Bortoli & Laroca (1990), Wilms (1995), Schlindwein (1998), Alves-dosSantos (1999), Gonçalves & Melo (2005) and Steiner et al. (2006). Estes levantamentos revelaram apifaunas locais com 101 até 292 espécies.No Nordeste do Brasil, os trabalhos de Ducke (1906Ducke ( , 1925 Comunidade de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) e plantas em uma área do Agreste pernambucano, Brasil Agreste is a transition region of tropical rainforest and Caatinga in northeastern Brazil. In this region, the majority of the native Atlantic Rainforest was destroyed to give place to livestock farming. It is not known whether degraded areas maintain a diversified bee-plant community or not and which kinds of bee-plant interactions occur. The vegetation at the study site comprises pastures, ruderal vegetation and minute remanents of rainforest vegetation. Both bees and associated plants were collected monthly, from August 2001 to July 2002, sampling during two consecutive days from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm. We collected a total of 1004 bees from 79 species. Apidae was the most abundant and species-rich bee family (732 individuals, 43 species) followed by Halictidae (194 individuals and 20 spp.), Megachilidae (47 individuals and 13 spp.), Colletidae (16 individuals and 2 spp.) and Andrenidae (15 individuals and 1 sp.). Only three species of eusocial bees and five of euglossine bees were recorded, even though both groups are diversified in Neotropical rainforests. The absence of native stingless bees of the genera Plebeia, Frieseomelitta, Partamona, Scaptotrigona and Trigonisca, as well as of other euglossine bee species, is probably due to the lack of nesting sites and to the paucity of pollen and nectar resources in this disturbed area. The bees visited flowers of 87 plant species, mainly of herbs and small shrubs. Isolated rainforest trees in the pasture as well as cultivated fruit crops contributed to some extent to maintain a diversified native bee community.KEYWORDS. Bee-plant interaction; diversity; Northeastern Brazil; species richness; pollination. RESUMO. Comunidade de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) e plantas em uma área do Agreste pernambucano, Brasil. O Agreste é uma região de transição entre floresta tropical úmida e caatinga no nordeste brasileiro. Nessa região, grande parte da vegetação nativa foi desmatada para a implantação de pastagens. Não é sabido se áreas degradadas mantém uma apifauna e flora melitófila diversificada, ou quais são associações entre abelhas e plantas que ocorrem nessas áreas. A cobertura vegetal atual é composta por pastos, vegetação ruderal e restos da vegetação nativa. Abelhas e plantas por elas visitadas foram coletadas ...

Bees Diversity on Flowers of Eremanthus spp. (Asteraceae)

“…The distribution of bees in Brazil is related to the type of vegetation, with some endemic species. For example, in tropical rainforests in the south of the country, higher species richness of Halictidae family is observed (Milet-Pinheiro & Schlindwein, 2008). In areas of cerrado, the family Apidae is the most representative, followed by Megachilidae.…”

Bee-flower association in the Neotropics: implications to bee conservation and plant pollination

“…This requires a large amount of resources collected throughout the year, favoring the use of Bee-flora association in the Neotropics various floral species. Centridini, Augochlorini, and Ceratinini are tribes rich in species in Brazilian habitats (Aguiar 2003;Andena et al 2012;Antonini and Martins 2003;Milet-Pinheiro and Schlindwein 2008) and they are formed by solitary and communal (in Augochlorini) bees. The great species richness increases the number of plant species explored by these tribes because the distinct species are active at different times of the year and, therefore, use different floral resources (Heithaus 1979).…”

Figure 1 from: de Oliveira FF, de Sousa Silva LR, Zanella FCV, Garcia CT, Pereira HL, Quaglierini C, Pigozzo CM (2020) A new species of Ceratina (Ceratinula) Moure, 1941, with notes on the taxonomy and distribution of Ceratina (Ceratinula) manni Cockerell, 1912, and an identification key for species of this subgenus known from Brazil (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Ceratinini). ZooKeys 1006: 137-165. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1006.57599

“…Moure (2012) did not mention any record for midwestern Brazil and recorded only four species for the northeastern region (C. augochloroides, C. lucidula, C. manni, and C. muelleri - Table 2). However, several local inventories record unidentified species in these regions (Sigrist et al 2017 and Lima and Silvestre 2017 for midwestern Brazil; and Aguiar and Zanella 2005;Viana and Kleinert 2005;Albuquerque et al 2007 andMilet-Pinheiro andSchlindwein 2007 for northeastern Brazil).…”