Impacto da precipitação pluviométrica sobre a atividade de vôo de Plebeia remota (Holmberg, 1903) (Apidae, Meliponini)

Abstract

Through an automated system, foragers' flight activity of four colonies of Plebeia remota was registered simultaneously from December 1998 to December 1999. The large amount of data obtained has allowed a quantitative and seasonal analysis of the rain impact on the bees' flight activity. The colonies came from two different localities: Cunha, Atlantic Rainforest in São Paulo State and Prudentópolis, Araucaria Forest in Paraná State. Percent numbers related to the flight activity for the moment that preceded the rain in one hour, as well as during and after the precipitation are presented. In all colonies, it was observed that the flight activity of P. remota has predominantly decreased before and during the precipitation. After it stopped raining, there was a predominance of increases, what indicates a compensation of flight activity in relation to the rainy period. In general, the greatest decrease of flight activity before rain, occurred in the autumn and the greatest increase of flight activity after rain, occurred in the spring. Alterations in this activity were observed with the variation of intensity, frequency and duration of precipitation. The external activity was little modified when the precipitation was up to 1.0 mm. However, when the rain intensity increased, the bees reduced strongly their flight activity. When the rain occurred only once per day, the decreases in the flight activity were greater, when compared to intermittent rain. Rains that lasted more than one hour caused larger decreases in the flight activity than precipitations of short duration. Flight activity was quite different when we compared days with rain and days without rain, as well as, flight activity was differently influenced in rainy days in the summer and in the winter. However, this behavior (response of flight activity to rain) did not allow to discriminate both populations.Keywords: flight activity, stingless bees, climatic factors, rain, foraging. Através de um sistema automatizado, a atividade do vôo de forrageiras de quatro colônias de Plebeia remota foi registrada ao mesmo tempo, de dezembro de 1998 a dezembro de 1999. Havia uma quantidade grande de dados que permitiram uma análise quantitativa e sazonal do impacto da pluviosidade sobre a atividade de vôo. As colônias vieram de duas localidades diferentes: Cunha, Mata Atlântica de São Paulo e Prudentópolis, Mata Araucária no Paraná. Números percentuais referentes à atividade de vôo para o momento que antecedia em uma hora a chuva, como também durante e após a precipitação, são apresentados. Em todas as colônias observaramse, predominantemente, decréscimos na atividade externa de P. remota, tanto antes como durante a precipitação. Após cessar a chuva, houve um predomínio de acréscimos, o que indica uma compensação da atividade de vôo em relação ao período chuvoso. De modo geral, o maior decréscimo de atividade de vôo, antes da chuva, ocorreu no outono e o maior acréscimo de atividade de vôo, depois da chuva, ocorreu na primavera. Alterações nesta atividade foram observa...

Foraging Activity inPlebeia remota, a Stingless Bees Species, Is Influenced by the Reproductive State of a Colony

“…Hilário et al [23][24][25] studied the influence of climatic factors on the flight activity of P. remota, but he did not present observations on the influence of diapause in the foraging and waste removal behavior for this species. The main aim of this study was to test whether the foraging behavior of this species varies according to the reproductive state of the colony.…”

Simulando a dinâmica populacional de uma colmeia para o ensino de Biologia

“…Outro fator de influência da atividade de voo é a precipitação pluviométrica [33]. A queda do número dos voos pode ser estudada em função de vários fatores: frequência, duração, hora em que ocorre e intensidade de chuva.…”

“…Eles estão divididos pelas horas do dia, sendo de interesse deste trabalho a umidade, a velocidade do vento e a precipitação pluviométrica no horário de 7h às 18 h [32], [33].…”

Modeling potential geographical distribution of the wild nests of Melipona capixaba Moure & Camargo, 1994 (Hymenoptera, Apidae): conserving isolated populations in mountain habitats

“…Selection of bioclimatic variables was based on our assessment of their relevance for the species. Temperature and precipitation have direct effects on the thermoregulatory capacity and external activity in the nests of social bees (Moritz & Crewe 1988;Hilário et al 2007), abilities that affect reproduction and species persistence in the environment. Additionally, two topographic variables were used, elevation and slope, derived from the Hydro-1K global digital elevation model (http://eros.usgs.gov).…”