Estratificação vertical de abelhas Euglossina (Hymenoptera, Apidae) em uma área de Mata Atlântica, Paraíba, Brasil

Abstract

Existem poucos estudos sobre distribuição vertical de insetos, principalmente de Hymenoptera Apiformes. O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar se existe estratificação vertical entre as espécies de Euglossina em áreas de Mata Atlântica, através da comparação da riqueza, abundância e diversidade em dois estratos, sub-bosque (1,5 m) e copa (10-12 m). Para isso, foram realizadas coletas mensais na Reserva Biológica Guaribas, de maio a dezembro de 2002, utilizando seis armadilhas contendo fragrâncias artificiais: eugenol, eucaliptol, escatol, beta ionona, acetato de benzila e vanilina, distribuídas nos dois estratos. Foram coletados 1.151 indivíduos pertencentes a 11 espécies e três gêneros de Euglossina. No estrato de sub-bosque a abundância e a diversidade foram maiores, em números absolutos, e a riqueza foi significativamente maior que no estrato de copa.

Male Orchid Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini) in Canopy and Understory of Amazon Várzea Floodplain Forest. I. Microclimatic, Seasonal and Faunal Aspects

“…In this case, behaving like a multivoltine species, it is better to live in the understory and avoid additional costs unless other constraints, such as high population density, conspecific competition, natural enemies, and others, lead them to seek another stratum, as observed in E. cordata, E. nigrita and E. pseudocingulata, species sharing both strata. Oliveira and Campos (1996), Martins and Souza (2005) and the present study showed that the canopy is the arboreal stratum with greater diversity and evenness. Furthermore, the studies on the vertical stratification of orchid bees (Roubik, 1993;Oliveira & Campos 1996;Martins & Souza, 2005;Ferreira et al, 2011) agree that the faunal composition of both strata are similar, since the forests share many species between strata, which could be called as permanent species, according to Magurran (2004).…”

“…This assumption is supported by the present results regarding richness, which revealed to be significantly different between the strata only when the data were analyzed per sampling month. Martins and Souza (2005), studying the vertical stratification of orchid bees in area of Atlantic Rainforest, reported that although there have been higher total abundance in the understory, no difference was found between the strata when the monthly averages were analyzed. These results reinforce the supposed above and therefore we consider that if species or individuals are much more present in one stratum throughout all or most months of the year, this should be interpreted as the preferred stratum or that more favorable to foraging.…”

“…Oliveira and Campos (1996), in two areas of Terra Firme forest in the Amazon, found similar values of richness and abundance between canopy and understory, but higher diversity in the canopy; the authors also reported that some species were more associated with the canopy and others were more common in the understory. In areas of the Atlantic Rainforest (coastal Brazil), Martins and Souza (2005) found that the abundance and richness of euglossine bees were higher in absolute numbers in the understory, but the diversity was higher in the canopy. Studying population fluctuations of euglossine bees in a remnant of Cerrado scrubland in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, Ferreira et al (2011) found no differences in species richness or diversity between strata, but the abundance of males was higher in the canopy than the understory.…”

Is the “Centro de Endemismo Pernambuco” a biodiversity hotspot for orchid bees?

“…Whatever the reasons, the fact is that El. felipei was never recorded outside ESEC Murici in any previous field study in the "Centro de Endemismo Pernambuco" (Bezerra and Martins, 2001;Martins and Souza, 2005;Milet-Pinheiro and Schlindwein, 2005;Darrault et al, 2006;Farias et al, 2007Farias et al, , 2008Moura and Schlindwein, 2009; this study). If it is true, we hypothesise that a high level of endogamy may be present in this species, one additional factor, besides (and most probably a consequence of) its restricted geographic distribution, to threaten this species.…”

“…Roubik, 2004b;Oliveira, 2006;Rasmussen and Skov, 2006;Nemésio, 2006Nemésio, , 2007Nemésio, , 2008Nemésio, , 2009Nemésio, , 2010aNemésio, , 2011bNemésio, , c, d, 2012aAyala and Engel, 2008;Bembé, 2008;Hinojosa-Díaz and Engel, 2011a, b;Hinojosa-Díaz et al, 2011Nemésio and Engel, 2012), faunistic and ecological studies in the last decade have been mainly focused on the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil (e.g. Bezerra and Martins, 2001;Tonhasca Júnior et al, 2002;Santos and Sofia, 2002;Martins and Souza, 2005;MiletPinheiro and Schlindwein 2005;Darrault et al, 2006;Nemésio and Silveira, 2006b, 2007a, 2010Farias et al, 2007;Farias et al 2008;Aguiar andGaglianone, 2008, 2011;Moura and Schlindwein, 2009;Nemésio, 2010bNemésio, , 2011aNemésio, , b, e, 2012cMattozo et al, 2011;Cordeiro et al, 2013;Nemésio and Vasconcelos, 2013), although a few studies have also been conducted in the Amazon Morato, 2004, 2006;StorckTonon et al, 2009;Rasmussen, 2009;Abrahamczyk et al, 2011;Nemésio et al, 2014).…”