Pollen Spectrum and Trophic Niche Width of Melipona scutellaris Latreille, 1811 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Highly Urbanized and Industrialized Sites

Abstract

The floristic composition of an environment is important to ensure the trophic niche of bee species. Melipona scutellaris Latreille, is a typical stingless bee of Atlantic rainforest sites in northeastern Brazil, a region widely established in meliponaries for honey and pollen production. M. scutellaris is reared (meliponiculture) in rural and urban areas, where the species depends on the availability of different plants for nectar and pollen collection. In this study, we estimated food niche width, equitativity, and similarity between different colonies of M. scutellaris in highly urbanized and industrialized sites of the Metropolitan Region of Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil. We analyzed pollen spectrum of 58 honey samples from six meliponaries, during 12 months. We identified 111 pollen types distributed in 28 plant families. The Fabaceae family showed the highest diversity in pollen types (33.33% of the total) and Mimosa caesalpiniifolia was the most frequent pollen type, found in 100% of the samples. M. scutellaris concentrated its foraging activity on a few trophic resources (H’ = 2.69 and J’ = 0.01) indicating a few melittophilous plant species belonging to the genera Eucalyptus, Mimosa, Protium, Serjania and Tapirira, should be managed on a regional scale to favor meliponiculture with this native bee species.

Atlas polínico de plantas de interesse apícola/meliponícola para o Recôncavo Baiano

“…Recentemente, em estudos realizados com a análise polínica de mel adota-se a contagem de um número maior que grãos de pólen por amostra (ANDRADE et al, 2019;MATOS;SANTOS, 2017;SANTOS et al, 2020). Este procedimento permite a determinação das classes de frequência estabelecida por Louveaux;Maurizio e Vorwohl (1978), que são as seguintes: pólen dominante (>45 % do total de grãos do conjunto amostral), pólen acessório (de 16 % a 45 %), pólen isolado importante (de 3 % a 15 %) e pólen isolado ocasional (≤3 %).…”

“…O número de espécies vegetais visitadas por abelhas é muito diversificado e dependente da abundância destas plantas na região e ou em áreas próximas das colônias (ANDRADE et al, 2019;MATOS;SANTOS, 2017;SANTOS et al, 2020).…”

“…Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides as pesquisas e Nascimento et al (2009); Melipona scutellaris os estudos de Andrade et al, (2009), Andrade et al (2019), Carvalho et al, (2001), Costa et al, (2009), Oliveira et al, (2020) e Ramalho et al (2007); e de Tetrapedia diversipes o trabalho de Neves et al, (2014).…”

“…Em estudos que utilizaram a melissopalinologia, os tipos polínicos das famílias Asteraceae, Anacardiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Solanaceae e Sapindaceae são citados como pólen dominante, indicando a importância de materiais bibliográficos que auxiliem na identificação de táxons dessa família botânica em produtos das colmeias (ANDRADE et al, 2019;MATOS;SANTOS, 2017;SANTOS et al, 2020).…”

Release experiments as an indicator of flying activities of stingless bees in urban areas

“…Melipona bees can suffer adverse effects of deforestation and can be considered indicators of landscape change (Brown and Albretcht, 2001), mainly due to the necessity of finding large cavities for nesting, such as large trees, which are rare in urban areas (Pioker-Hara et al, 2014). Thus, their breeding requires experience of the stingless beekeeper and additional handling of nest, as well as greater availability and diversity of plant species in the area where they are located (Oliveira-Abreu et al, 2014;Andrade et al, 2019), in addition to beekeeping programs that aim to maintain regional biodiversity (Brown and Albretcht, 2001). However, the potential of Melipona bees for beekeeping is excellent, even in urban areas, not only for the creation and commercialization of unique bee products, but also to contribute to the conservation of this endangered species, combining the need to increase the number of these individuals with the conservation of forest remnants and their plantpollinator interactions.…”