Pollen collected and trophic interactions between stingless bees of the genera Melipona, Frieseomelitta and Plebeia (Apidae: Meliponini) raised in Central Amazon

Abstract

Bees of the Meliponini tribe are the most diverse group of social bees in the world and their need for trophic resources (pollen and nectar) makes them the main floral visitors and consequently the main pollinators of tropical forests. The trophic resources of stingless bees of the genera Melipona, Frieseomelitta and Plebeia (Apidae: Meliponini) were studied during the dry season of 2016 and rainy season of 2017 in the meliponary “Sucupira” located east of Manaus-AM (03°00’05” and S, 59°51’ 05 W). The most representative botanical families in this study, both in the dry and rainy seasons, were: Melastomataceae, Fabaceae, Anacardiaceae, and Arecaceae. The highest levels of diversity and uniformity of collected pollen types were observed for Friseomelitta sp. (H’=2.318; J’=0.712) in the rainy season, followed by F. varia (H = 2.044 and J’= 0.607) in the dry season. Even with their unique preferences, the bees presented a high degree of nestedness, both for presence and absence data (30.47; p < 0.001) and quantitative data (30.75; p= <0.001). Despite the richness of resources collected (87 pollen types), the results indicate that some botanical groups form the basis of these bees' diets, which justifies the trophic relations indicated by the high network nestedness.