Recursos polínicos coletados por Melipona Illiger, 1806 e Frieseomelitta Ihering, 1912 (Apidae-Apinae-Meliponini) em matas de igapós do Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brasil

Abstract

There is a great diversity of meliponines in Brazil, especially in the Amazon. These insects have one of the most important functions for the maintenance of life on the planet: pollination. In addition, bees have an economic importance: meliponiculture, a profitable activity that sustains many communities. That is why work on these Meliponines is so important. In 1999, an excursion was made in the Amazon along the Rio Negro channel, led by Dr. João Maria Franco de Camargo and collections of pollen material from various Meliponines were carried out. In this study the pollen resources of 10 species of stingless bees were studied, whose nests were arranged along a 1600km stretch on the banks of the Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil. The samples were collected in the end of the rainy season (July-August) in 1999. The material was taken from pollen pots found in natural nests. The pollen material was homogenized and prepared according to the usual acetolysis technique. The work consisted of the identification of pollen types, calculation of the trophic niche overlap between pairs of bee species and cluster analysis of diets. The work was divided into two chapters, the first of which analyzed pollen pots from four species of bees belonging to the genus Frieseomelitta. In the second chapter, samples of six species of Melipona were analyzed. Of the 31 samples obtained from the Frieseomelitta nests, 32 plant species (17 botanical families) were identified, 12 of which were considered attractive to these bees, while six were promoters of temporary specialization events. The results reaffirmed the potentially generalist pattern of these bees with the occurrence of temporary specialization events, being more influenced by local conditions than by the kinship between species in the collection of pollen resources. In the second chapter of the 17 obtained from Melipona nests, 32 plant species (17 botanical families) were identified. Of these, 12 pollen types were considered attractive and each pollen pot, on average, had five pollen types. The species accumulation curve, produced by rarefaction, showed a stabilization of the number of species with the count of 600 grains. Finally, this work indicates important botanical species for crops close to nests of bee species present in this study, either for species conservation programs or Meliponaries.