Pollen niche and trophic interactions between colonies of Melipona (Michmelia) seminigra merrillae and Melipona (Melikerria) interrupta (Apidae: Meliponini) reared in floodplains in the Central Amazon

Abstract

The growth of the Meliponiculture in floodplains in Central Amazon has aroused interest in the knowledge of trophic resources obtained by stingless bees. In this study, the pollen niche and trophic interactions were determined between colonies of Melipona (Michmelia) seminigra merrillae and Melipona (Melikerria) interrupta (Apidae: Meliponini) reared in Várzea area in the Central Amazon. The study was conducted between November 2011 and October 2012 in the Sucupira meliponary, located in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil. In identifying the corbicular loads of pollen, a total of 67 pollen types collected by M. seminigra merrillae and M. interrupta were recorded, distributed among 27 families, with three pollen types remaining undetermined. Of this total, 22 pollen types were exclusively collected by M. seminigra merrillae, 14 were only collected by M. interrupta, and 31 pollen types were shared between the two species studied. These results indicate that the families Fabaceae, Melastomataceae, Myrtaceae, and Anacardiaceae, in addition to exhibiting high attractiveness, are key resources in maintaining these bees in the same meliponary. Considering the Pianka overlap index, except for December (Oik = 0.116), May (Oik = 0.07), and June (Oik = 0.004), which exhibited values below the adopted significance level, the other months exhibited high interspecific competition for the aforementioned resources. From the palynological data obtained in this study, there was a high degree of connectance (C = 28 %) compared to studies conducted without the addition of palynological data, reinforcing the importance of including pollen data in studies of interaction networks. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.