The stingless bee mandaçaia (<i>Melipona quadrifasciata</i> Lepeletier) increases the quality of greenhouse tomatoes

Neto, Carlos de Melo e Silva; Ribeiro, Anna Clara Chaves; Gomes, Flaviana Lima; Melo, Aniela Pilar Campos de; Oliveira, Guilherme Resende; Faquinello, Patrícia; Franceschinelli, Edivani Villaron; Nascimento, Abadia dos Reis

doi:10.1080/00218839.2018.1494913

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…For example, Strange (2015) found a significant difference in tomato fruit weight following pollination by Bombus huntii between the two indeterminate varieties of tomato ‘Favorita’ and ‘Sungold’. Differences in fruit production were also noted between the indeterminate and determinate varieties of tomatoes studied in Brazil ( Silva-Neto et al 2019 ). The effect of pollination treatment on fruit weight could be mediated by pollinator preferences.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Research on tomato pollination in Brazil has clearly recognized the opportunity to capitalize on wild assemblages of native bees ( Franceschinelli et al 2013 , Vinícius-Silva et al 2017 , Roubik 2018 ). Looking beyond bumblebees, Silva-Neto et al (2019) investigated the potential of the native buzz-pollinating stingless bee M. quadrifasciata Le Peletier (Hymenoptera: Apidae) for greenhouse tomato pollination in Brazil. Melipona quadrifasciata pollination generates fruits of higher quality than no pollination ( Silva-Neto et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Looking beyond bumblebees, Silva-Neto et al (2019) investigated the potential of the native buzz-pollinating stingless bee M. quadrifasciata Le Peletier (Hymenoptera: Apidae) for greenhouse tomato pollination in Brazil. Melipona quadrifasciata pollination generates fruits of higher quality than no pollination ( Silva-Neto et al 2019 ). Pollination by this stingless bee also results in significantly larger and higher quality tomato fruit compared to A. mellifera pollination ( dos Santos et al 2009 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Cooley

Vallejo‐Marín

2021

Journal of Economic Entomology

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Buzz-pollinated plants require visitation from vibration producing bee species to elicit full pollen release. Several important food crops are buzz-pollinated including tomato, eggplant, kiwi, and blueberry. Although more than half of all bee species can buzz pollinate, the most commonly deployed supplemental pollinator, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae; honey bees), cannot produce vibrations to remove pollen. Here, we provide a list of buzz-pollinated food crops and discuss the extent to which they rely on pollination by vibration-producing bees. We then use the most commonly cultivated of these crops, the tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), as a case study to investigate the effect of different pollination treatments on aspects of fruit quality. Following a systematic review of the literature, we statistically analyzed 71 experiments from 24 studies across different geopolitical regions and conducted a meta-analysis on a subset of 21 of these experiments. Our results show that both supplemental pollination by buzz-pollinating bees and open pollination by assemblages of bees, which include buzz pollinators, significantly increase tomato fruit weight compared to a no-pollination control. In contrast, auxin treatment, artificial mechanical vibrations, or supplemental pollination by non-buzz-pollinating bees (including Apis spp.), do not significantly increase fruit weight. Finally, we compare strategies for providing bee pollination in tomato cultivation around the globe and highlight how using buzz-pollinating bees might improve tomato yield, particularly in some geographic regions. We conclude that employing native, wild buzz pollinators can deliver important economic benefits with reduced environmental risks and increased advantages for both developed and emerging economies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Cooley

Vallejo‐Marín

2021

Journal of Economic Entomology

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“…Stingless bees present great potential to be used in commercial crop pollination 7,44,45 . Indeed, Melipona bees have been demonstrated to be efficient pollinators of many economically important fruits and vegetables including tomatoes [46][47][48][49] , eggplant 9 , sweet pepper 50 and annatto 51 . A recent study using the RFID technology with the stingless bee M. fasciculata showed that workers of this species can forage up to a distance of 10 km away from their hives 52 , suggesting that these bees are well suited for pollination of large scale plantations as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging and Drifting Patterns of a Highly Eusocial Neotropical Stingless Bee Species Assessed by Radio-frequency Identification Tags

Oliveira

Contrera

Arruda

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Bees play a key role in ecosystem services as the main pollinators of numerous flowering plants. Studying factors influencing their foraging behaviour is relevant not only to understand their biology, but also how populations might respond to changes in their habitat and to the climate. Here, we used radio-frequency identification tags to monitor the foraging behaviour of the neotropical stingless bee Melipona fasciculata with special interest in drifting patterns, i.e. when a forager drifts into a foreign nest. In addition, we collected meteorological data to study how abiotic factors affect bees’ lifespan and behaviour. Our results show that only 35 % of bees never drifted to another hive nearby, and that factors such as temperature, humidity and solar irradiation affected the foragers drifting rates and/or lifespan. Moreover, we tested whether drifting levels would decrease after marking the nest entrances with different patterns. Contrary to our predictions, there was an increase in the proportion of drifting, indicating that this could be a deliberate strategy rather than an orientation mistake. Overall, our results demonstrate how managed bee populations are affected by both nearby hives and climate factors, offering unprecedented insights on their biology and potential commercial application as crop pollinators.

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“…Some species of stingless bees are already successfully managed in small scale, notably those from the genus Melipona that have been traditionally used for honey production in the Americas, with several other stingless bee genera used in Africa, Asia and Oceania (Cortopassi-Laurino et al, 2006;Quezada-Euán et al, 2018;Orr et al, 2021). However, despite their great potential to be used as commercial pollinators (Cruz et al, 2005;Del Sarto et al, 2005;Slaa et al, 2006;Bispo dos Santos et al, 2009;Hikawa and Miyanaga, 2009; Nunes- Silva et al, 2013;Caro et al, 2017;Silva-Neto et al, 2019;Giannini et al, 2020;Layek et al, 2021), the large scale application of stingless bee species with this purpose is not yet as developed as for example honeybees and bumblebees (Roubik, 1995;Ramírez et al, 2018;Roubik et al, 2018). This could be a direct consequence of a general lack of knowledge about their biology and natural history.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging and Drifting Patterns of the Highly Eusocial Neotropical Stingless Bee Melipona fasciculata Assessed by Radio-Frequency Identification Tags

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bees play a key role in ecosystem services as the main pollinators of numerous flowering plants. Studying factors influencing their foraging behavior is relevant not only to understand their biology, but also how populations might respond to changes in their habitat and to the climate. Here, we used radio-frequency identification tags to monitor the foraging behavior of the neotropical stingless bee Melipona fasciculata with special interest in drifting patterns i.e., when a forager drifts into a foreign nest. In addition, we collected meteorological data to study how abiotic factors affect bees’ activity and behavior. Our results show that only 35% of bees never drifted to another hive nearby, and that factors such as temperature, humidity and solar irradiation affected the bees drifting rates and/or foraging activity. Moreover, we tested whether drifting levels would decrease after marking the nest entrances with different patterns. However, contrary to our predictions, there was an increase in the proportion of drifting, which could indicate factors other than orientation mistakes playing a role in this behavior. Overall, our results demonstrate how managed bee populations are affected by both nearby hives and climate factors, offering insights on their biology and potential commercial application as crop pollinators.

show abstract

The stingless bee mandaçaia (Melipona quadrifasciata Lepeletier) increases the quality of greenhouse tomatoes

Cited by 14 publications

References 28 publications

Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Foraging and Drifting Patterns of a Highly Eusocial Neotropical Stingless Bee Species Assessed by Radio-frequency Identification Tags

Foraging and Drifting Patterns of the Highly Eusocial Neotropical Stingless Bee Melipona fasciculata Assessed by Radio-Frequency Identification Tags

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