Do different landscapes influence the response of native and non-native bee species in the Eucalyptus pollen foraging, in southern Brazil?

Hilgert-Moreira, Suzane Both; Fernandes, Mariana Zaniol; Marchett, Cassiano Alves; Blochtein, Betina

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2013.10.049

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…In addition, the attractiveness of different Myrtaceae species to honey bees appears to be highly variable between species and, possibly, between tribes [ 58 ]. These differences relate to differences in pollen and nectar production and presentation, among other factors, and may explain the preference of honey bees in South America for foraging pollen of Eucalyptus [ 85 ], even in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest region [ 21 , 86 ], where Myrtaceae is a very important part of the forest flora [ 75 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen analysis of Australian honey

et al. 2018

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Pollen analysis is widely used to verify the geographic origin of honeys, but has never been employed in Australia. In this study, we analysed the pollen content of 173 unblended honey samples sourced from most of the commercial honey producing regions in southern Australia. Southern Australian vegetation is dominated by Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) forests and, as expected, most Australian honeys are palynologically dominated by Eucalyptus, while other important components include Myrtaceae taxa such as Corymbia/Angophora and the tribe Leptospermeae; plus Brassicaceae, Echium, Macadamia, and Acacia. An important feature of the honeys is the number of Myrtaceae pollen morphotypes per sample, which is generally high (mean = 4.6) compared to honeys produced outside of Australia, including Eucalyptus honeys produced in the Mediterranean region, and honeys produced in South America, which has its own rich indigenous Myrtaceae flora. In the latter regions, the number of Myrtaceae morphotypes is apparently generally ≤2. A high number of Myrtaceae morphotypes may be a feasible criterion for authenticating the origin of Australian honeys, since most Australian honey is produced by honey bees mainly working indigenous floral resources. Myrtaceae morphotype diversity is a convenient melissopalynological measure that could be applied even where detailed knowledge of the pollen morphology of the many component genera and species is absent. Palynological criteria developed in Europe for authenticating Eucalyptus honeys should not be relied upon for Australian honeys, since those criteria are not based on samples of Australian honey.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen analysis of Australian honey

et al. 2018

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“…Plantations of Eucalypt for timber production in many parts of the world cause habitat fragmentation and loss of biodiversity (Williams, 2015). However, these and other introduced plants may also provide a safe source of food for bees in degraded ecosystems (Hilgert-Moreira et al, 2014). In addition to Eucalypt, Neotropical stingless bees also forage on at least eight genera of Lamiaceae that are not native to their continent, and the stingless bees of Indo-Malayan-Australasia forage on at least 11 introduced genera of Asteraceae.…”

Section: Visitation Of Non-native Plants By Stingless Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stingless bee floral visitation in the global tropics and subtropics

Fgb

Kendall

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Bees play a key role in maintaining healthy terrestrial ecosystems by pollinating plants. Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are a diverse clade of social bees (>500 species) with a pantropical distribution spanning South and Central America, Africa, India, and Austral[ndash]Asia. They are garnering increasing attention as commercially[ndash]beneficial pollinators of some crops, yet their contribution to the pollination of native plants in the tropics and subtropics remains poorly understood. Here we conduct for the first time a global review of the plants visited by stingless bees. We compile a database of reported associations (flower visits) between stingless bees and plants, from studies that have made either direct observations of foraging bees or analysed the pollen stored in nests. Worldwide, we find stingless bees have been reported to visit the flowers of plants from at least 215 different families and 1434 genera, with frequently reported interactions for many of the tropic[prime]s most species[ndash]diverse plant families including Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Rubiaceae, Poaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Myrtaceae, Malvaceae, Arecaceae, Solanaceae, and Anacardiaceae. The stingless bee fauna of each of three major biogeographic regions (Neotropical, Afrotropical and Indo[ndash]Malayan[ndash]Australasian) were frequent visitors of many of the same plant families, however we detected differences in the proportional use of plant families by the stingless bees of the Indo[ndash]Malayan[ndash]Australasian and Neotropical regions, likely reflecting differences in the available flora of those regions. Stingless bees in all regions visit a range of exotic species in their preferred plant families (crops, ornamental plants and weeds), in addition to native plants. Although most reports of floral visitation on wild plants do not confirm effective pollen transfer, it is likely that stingless bees make at least some contribution to pollination for the majority of plants they visit. In all, our database supports the view that stingless bees play an important role in the ecosystems of the global tropics and subtropics as pollinators of an exceptionally large and diverse number of plants. This database also highlights important gaps in our knowledge of stingless bee resource use and should benefit future efforts to understand stingless bee[ndash]plant interactions.

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“…In the study area, Eucalyptus is abundant, since it was used in the park reforestation program for a period, and so represents no competition with other foragers. Hilgert-Moreira et al, (2014) demonstrated that regardless of the landscape characteristics, M. obscurior foragers were able to collect pollen from Eucalyptus throughout the year. According to these authors, this persistence is due to the capability of Eucalyptus in supporting more than one foraging species, which results in low or inexistent competition for the resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%