How to Be a Bee-Botanist Using Pollen Spectra

Roubik, David W.; Patiño, Jorge Enrique Moreno

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-4960-7_21

Cited by 21 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…However, no actual damage to the flower occurs because the pollen is no longer contained in the anthers. Thus, rather than ‘thievery’ or another type of ‘floral larceny’ (Inouye, ), the AHB merely appears to act as a commensal, as often found in studies of its interactions and those of native stingless bees with flowering plants (Roubik, ; Roubik & Moreno‐Patiño, ). Because AHBs consume pollen from annatto, this may reduce the amount of pollen grains available to other more efficient pollinators, resulting in pollen depletion (Hargreaves et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Among insects, the ability to sonicate is found mainly among bees of approximately 50 genera but not in the honey bee (De Luca & Vallejo‐Marín, ). By contrast, the genus Melipona has evolved the specialized behaviour of sonication when visiting flowers with poricidal anthers, which provides access to considerably more flowers; for example, flowers of the Fabaceae and Melastomataceae (Roubik & Moreno‐Patiño, ). To ensure good seed set in annatto, excess pollen relative to the number of ovules appears to be necessary (Joseph et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pollination services of Africanized honey bees and nativeMelipona beecheiito buzz-pollinated annatto (Bixa orellanaL.) in the neotropics

Caro

Moo-Valle

Alfaro³

et al. 2016

Agr Forest Entomol

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1 Africanized honey bees (AHBs) are the predominant flower visitors of many plants in the neotropics, although little evidence is available on their efficiency as pollinators on native crops. 2 Annatto (Bixa orellana) is a buzz-pollinated neotropical tree. We compared the pollination service provided by AHBs and native Melipona beecheii (Mb) to annatto in the Yucatan. As a result of the different abilities of both species to sonicate, a prediction of the present study is that AHBs on individual visits would result in less efficient pollinators on this crop. 3 A higher frequency of AHBs on flowers (73.8%) compared with Mb (21.3%) was found. However, AHBs deposited significantly less pollen on the stigma and produced less fruits, with fewer seeds and weight, than Mb. A higher pollination index efficiency was obtained for Mb (0.9) compared with AHBs (0.6). 4 AHBs did not sonicate annatto and gleaned the pollen released after Mb visits, which suggests that they act as commensals of the latter. 5 By acting as commensals, AHBs, despite their high abundance, appear to marginally contribute to the pollination of annatto. Studies conducted under scenarios with a differential abundance of AHBs and efficient sonicating species are necessary to test this hypothesis on annatto and other buzz-pollinated plants in the neotropics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollination services of Africanized honey bees and nativeMelipona beecheiito buzz-pollinated annatto (Bixa orellanaL.) in the neotropics

Caro

Moo-Valle

Alfaro³

et al. 2016

Agr Forest Entomol

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“…Chittka et al (1999) suggest that in the search for a preferred species, bees could neglect flowers of other species of plants that offer as much or more of the resource than the preferred plants. In addition, pollen is not always a reliable indicator of a nectar source because there are no in depth studies of how the availability of resources varies even within the same genus or of the floral and reproductive biology of a large number of species of plants in areas such as the caatinga (Iwama & Melhem, 1979;Machado & Lopes, 2004;Santos et al, 2010;Roubik & Moreno, 2013). Therefore, it is essential to carry out more field studies to ratify or rectify the inferences made based on pollen spectra (Roubik & Moreno, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen types collected by Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in dry vegetation in Northeastern Brazil

Novaıs¹,

Absy²,

Santos³

2014

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Abstract. Knowing the floral origin of the pollen collected by native bees in Neotropical ecosystems enables us to understand the dynamics of the interdependent relationships between the insects and the native flora. The objectives of this study were to: (i) investigate the spectrum of plant species from which pollen is collected by Tetragonisca angustula in caatinga (dry vegetation) areas in the semiarid region of Northeastern Brazil; (ii) identify pollen types that could be used as regional geographical markers and (iii) determine the pollen niche breadth and the pattern of use of floral resources by this stingless bee. In total, 23 samples of the pollen stored by T. angustula were collected monthly and subjected to acetolysis. Of the 45 pollen types identified that of Prosopis juliflora (Fabaceae) and Solanum (Solanaceae) were the most frequently represented in the samples and 19 were collected by the bees at both study sites. Species characteristic of caatinga, such as Poincianella pyramidalis (Tulasne) L.P. Queiroz and Senna macranthera (de Candolle ex Colladon) H.S. Irwin & Barneby, were among the pollen identified and they were used as indicators of the geographical origin of the samples. The average values of the pollen niche breadth (H') and equitability (J') indicate that T. angustula is a generalist and homogeneous forager of the floral resources in caatinga.

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“…Some pollen types from polliniferous plants, when found in the pollen spectrum of honeys, may indicate the geographical origin of the samples, as well as, suggest potential pollen sources for bees. According to Roubik and Moreno (2013), predominant pollen in honey is often no indication of nectar source, if flowers are nectarless.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All of the different pollen types found were microphotographed at 100× magnification. In order to identify the pollen types, palynological bibliographies (Roubik & Moreno, 1991; Carreira al., 1996) were used, and the pollen library at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) was consulted.…”

Section: Analysis Of Pollen Grains In the Honey And Statistical Indexesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resources Collected by two Melipona Illiger, 1806 (Apidae: Meliponini) Species Based on Pollen Spectrum of Honeys from the Amazon Basin

et al. 2020

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This study aimed to identify the pollen grains found in honeys of Melipona (Michmelia) seminigra pernigra Moure & Kerr and Melipona (Melikerria) interrupta Latreille in two communities of the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve, Lower Amazon (Pará, Brazil) between December 2016 and November 2017. Twenty-four samples of honey were processed, 12 samples from M. seminigra pernigra collected in the Suruacá community and 12 samples from M. interrupta in the Vila Franca community. After acetolysis, 103 pollen types were identified, distributed across 22 families, plus eight indeterminate types. Fifty-nine types were exclusive to M. seminigra pernigra, 29 types were exclusive to M. interrupta and 15 pollen types were shared between both species. Anacardiaceae, Burseraceae, Melastomataceae, and Myrtaceae were the most attractive pollen families, providing key resources for maintenance of these bee populations. The sharing of pollen types between both bee species revealed a high similarity in preference for certain resources. M. seminigra showed greater diversity (H’ = 1.928) than M. interrupta (H’ = 1.292). Furthermore, the diversity (H’) and equitability (J’) indexes showed a more homogeneous pattern in the pollen spectrum of honeys from M. seminigra in most months studied. These data suggest that meliponiculturists should consider the diversity of plant species found in the two communities and keep them close to the meliponary, which will favor honey management and production, as well as the local biodiversity.

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How to Be a Bee-Botanist Using Pollen Spectra

Cited by 21 publications

References 19 publications

Pollination services of Africanized honey bees and nativeMelipona beecheiito buzz-pollinated annatto (Bixa orellanaL.) in the neotropics

Pollination services of Africanized honey bees and nativeMelipona beecheiito buzz-pollinated annatto (Bixa orellanaL.) in the neotropics

Pollen types collected by Tetragonisca angustula (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in dry vegetation in Northeastern Brazil

Resources Collected by two Melipona Illiger, 1806 (Apidae: Meliponini) Species Based on Pollen Spectrum of Honeys from the Amazon Basin

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