Are Orchid Bees (Apidae: Euglossini) Good Indicators of the State of Conservation of Neotropical Forests?

Añino, Yostin; Gálvez, Dumas

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v66i1.3679

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, the mechanisms driving the declines seem to be equally affecting both rare and common species. Research is still needed to understand basic aspects of the biology of orchid bees in order to comprehend how these declines are driven (Añino et al 2019). Monitoring of orchid bees in the city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil (Nemésio et al 2015) and in central Panamá (Roubik 2001;Roubik and Ackerman 1987) showed long-term stability, despite year-to-year variation in abundance, which contrasts sharply with our data.…”

Section: Population Declinecontrasting

confidence: 99%

Decline of native bees (Apidae: Euglossa) in a tropical forest of Panama

et al. 2020

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We measured abundance, diversity, and richness of Euglossa bees (Euglossini, Apidae) in lowland semi-deciduous forest in Darién National Park, Panamá, during the wet and dry seasons in the canopy and understory for five consecutive years (2013 to 2017) using McPhail traps baited with eucalyptus oil. We found a precipitous decline in abundance and richness throughout the 5 years of our study. Alpha diversity also declined throughout the study. Abundance, species richness and alpha diversity were significantly higher in the dry than in the wet season. There were no significant differences in the diversity, richness, or abundance between the canopy and understory. Our data contrast sharply with previous long-term studies of euglossine bees which showed stable populations.

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Section: Population Declinecontrasting

confidence: 99%

Decline of native bees (Apidae: Euglossa) in a tropical forest of Panama

et al. 2020

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“…Future surveys in Belize would benefit from being conducted during other times of year, especially during the June–September wet season, as well as in several major locations we did not sample, in order to extend the range of variation in elevations, habitat classes, and quantified levels of disturbance. Combined with surveys of other insects, future studies of euglossines in Belize could contribute to determining the value of orchid bees as overall indicator species in conservation studies, which has been the subject of recent debate ( Añino, Parra & Galvez, 2019 ; Allen et al, 2019 ; Miranda et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and distribution of orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Euglossini) in Belize

O'neill

O'Neill

Delphia

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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Background Orchid bees are abundant and widespread in the Neotropics, where males are important pollinators of orchids they visit to collect fragrant chemicals later used to court females. Assemblages of orchid bees have been intensively surveyed in parts of Central America, but less so in Belize, where we studied them during the late-wet and early-dry seasons of 2015–2020. Methods Using bottle-traps baited with chemicals known to attract a variety of orchid bee species, we conducted surveys at sites varying in latitude, historical annual precipitation, elevation, and the presence of nearby agricultural activities. Each sample during each survey period consisted of the same number of traps and the same set of chemical baits, their positions randomized along transects. Results In 86 samples, we collected 24 species in four genera: Euglossa (16 species), Eulaema (3), Eufriesea (3), and Exaerete (2). During our most extensive sampling (December 2016–February 2017), species diversity was not correlated with latitude, precipitation, or elevation; species richness was correlated only with precipitation (positively). However, a canonical correspondence analysis indicated that species composition of assemblages varied across all three environmental gradients, with species like Eufriesea concava, Euglossa imperialis, and Euglossa viridissima most common in the drier north, and Euglossa ignita, Euglossa purpurea, and Eulaema meriana more so in the wetter southeast. Other species, such as Euglossa tridentata and Eulaema cingulata, were common throughout the area sampled. Mean species diversity was higher at sites with agricultural activities than at sites separated from agricultural areas. A Chao1 analysis suggests that other species should yet be found at our sites, a conclusion supported by records from adjacent countries, as well as the fact that we often added new species with repeated surveys of the same sites up through early 2020, and with the use of alternative baits. Additional species may be especially likely if sampling occurs outside of the months/seasons that we have sampled so far.

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Urbanization Affects Composition but Not Richness of Flower Visitors in the Yungas of Argentina

Santis

Chacoff

2020

Neotrop Entomol

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Urban areas represent a spatially small impact in relation to other landuses such as livestock and agriculture, but they undergo rapid changes. Such changes involve their size, shape, interconnectivity, and composition of natural patches. Habitat loss generated by urbanization affects the diversity and abundance of bees and other flower visitors in many sites. In general, the presence of urban areas represents a strict boundary to flower visitors and restricts their movement between natural and suburban habitat patches. The aim of this work is to evaluate how the flower visitor assemblage change along an urban-natural gradient in northwest Argentina. We established five areas in the Yungas ecoregion and sampled three sites with different degrees of urbanization (urban, suburban, and natural), at each area, reaching 15 sites. At each site, we sampled flower visitors during 5-min observation periods done over flowering plants. We found 197 morphospecies of flower-visiting insects along the gradient and an invariant richness, abundance, and Shannon diversity. The assemblage presented the same taxonomic group distributions in the three categories established. However, in urban sites, solitary bees and bees with soil borrowing nesting type predominate, while eusocial and cavity nesting bees were the main flower visitors in suburban sites. Our results suggest that the cities of northwestern Argentina are not a strict boundary for flower visitors; however, urbanization seems to be selecting and favoring certain flower-visitor species traits.

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Are Orchid Bees (Apidae: Euglossini) Good Indicators of the State of Conservation of Neotropical Forests?

Cited by 7 publications

References 23 publications

Decline of native bees (Apidae: Euglossa) in a tropical forest of Panama

Decline of native bees (Apidae: Euglossa) in a tropical forest of Panama

Diversity and distribution of orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Euglossini) in Belize

Urbanization Affects Composition but Not Richness of Flower Visitors in the Yungas of Argentina

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