Diversidade de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apidae) ao longo de um gradiente latitudinal na Mata Atlântica

Abstract

Abstract:The Atlantic Forest is one of the most rich and endangered natural environments in the world. It is expected then that this situation would have encouraged the study and conservation of this biome; the Atlantic forest Hymenoptera fauna, however, remains virtually unknown. The bee fauna, for instance, is less studied than that of the Brazilian open areas. The overall ignorance on most of the Atlantic Forest insect faunas based the elaboration of the project "Biodiversity of Hymenoptera and Isoptera: richness and diversity along a latitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Forest -the humid eastern forest of Brazil", within the Biota-Fapesp Program, that aimed to catalog the termites, ants and several wasp families along the Atlantic forest and to publish data that could contribute to the biome conservation. Similar sampling protocols were applied for wasp surveys: the same number of Malaise and pan traps and similar effort on vegetation swapping, along 17 selected localities, representing a gradient of almost 20° of latitude in evergreen pristine Atlantic Forest, from Paraíba to Santa Catarina Brazilian states. These protocols were defined to optimize the collecting of wasps; bees represented a 'secondary product' of the sampling protocol. A sum of 797 specimens representing 105 bee species was sampled; the richest and more abundant bee taxon was the Meliponina. Unfortunately the applied sampling method does not afford comparisons among Atlantic Forest bee assemblages with those of other biomes. The detrended correspondence analysis using only the relative frequencies of Meliponina species revealed a weak correspondence of the stingless bee assemblages' composition with the latitudinal gradient. Despite that, the sampled taxa are possibly restricted to the Atlantic forest and additional data on their distribution deserves to be published. A complete checklist of the sampled bees, their relative frequencies, and the localities where they were recorded is presented and discussed. Keywords: Apoidea, bee assemblages, Neotropical, surveys. GONÇALVES, R.B. & BRANDÃO, C.R.F. Diversidade de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apidae) ao longo de um gradiente latitudinal na Mata Atlântica. Biota Neotrop. 8(4): http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v8n4/pt/ abstract?article+bn00908042008Resumo: A Mata Atlântica é um dos ambientes mais ricos e ameaçados do mundo, o que deveria ter estimulado em muito o estudo e a conservação do Bioma, mas a fauna de Hymenoptera permanece ainda relativamente pouco conhecida. Em especial, a fauna de abelhas da floresta ombrófila densa é pouco estudada em comparação à fauna das áreas abertas brasileiras. O projeto temático "Biodiversidade de Hymenoptera e Isoptera: riqueza e diversidade ao longo de um gradiente latitudinal na Mata Atlântica -a floresta úmida do leste do Brasil", integrante do Programa Biota-Fapesp, foi idealizado com o objetivo de catalogar térmitas, formigas e famílias selecionadas de vespas ao longo da Mata Atlântica, disponibilizando dados que permitam melhor embasar a conservação deste b...

Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apidae s.l.) captured with Malaise and pan traps along an altitudinal gradient in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil

“…This situation has encouraged the study and conservation of this biome; however, the bee fauna, the most important pollinator group, remains virtually unknown. Certain aspects of bee distributional patterns, such as latitudinal and altitudinal gradients, are poorly known (Gonçalves and Brandão 2008), primarily because of the difficulty of sampling forested areas. Structured bee inventories are relatively common for areas with open vegetation (Pinheiro-Machado 2002).…”

“…Therefore, alternative methodologies such as pan traps could be useful to evaluate the bee fauna in a certain area (Roulston et al 2007). Gonçalves and Brandão (2008) reported the bees sampled during the project "Biodiversity of Hymenoptera and Isoptera: richness and diversity along a latitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Forest -the humid eastern forest of Brazil", within the Biota-Fapesp Program. The goal of the main project was to assess the latitudinal gradient, and the sampling protocol included pan and malaise traps and vegetation netting.…”

“…Only stingless bees were included in this analysis, because as perennial insects, they are not affected by seasonality and their populations are relatively larger than those of other bees. Table 1 shows the species and numbers of individuals by each altitudinal level, as well as the species sampled in Ubatuba by Biota project (Gonçalves and Brandão 2008). The present survey captured 289 individuals representing 57 species, 33 genera, and 5 subfamilies.…”

“…fulviventris with 90 specimens, followed by Schwarziana quadripunctata (39) and Plebeia remota (20). A total of 16 species were shared with the previous sampling in this area, which used similar methodology (Gonçalves and Brandão 2008); five of the species collected in the previous study did not appear in the present survey but 36 species were sampled only in this survey (Table 1). These differences were expected since the sampled period of first study was only one month (January), and the present study sampled three months (January to March) in two consecutive years.…”

Species composition and density estimates of the anurofauna of a site within the northernmost large Atlantic Forest remnant (Parque Estadual do Desengano) in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…Data on the fauna from forested areas in that region include surveys of insects (e.g. Tonhasca Junior et al 2002, Moço et al 2005, Gonçalves & Brandão 2008 and mammals (Vaz 1998, Modesto et al 2008 at the Parque Estadual do Desengano, of birds in Campos dos Goytacazes municipality (Piratelli et al 2005), of bats in Miracema municipality Neotrop.,vol. 11,no.…”