Breno Magalhães Freitas

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Federal University of Ceará

This is the first report showing that using honeybee (Apis mellifera) and wild pollinators complementary pollination can enhance soybean productivity (Glycine max). Current industrial production of soybean involves autopollination and high loads of pesticides. Therefore, growers have neglected possible biotic pollination despite suggestions that so...

In this study, we investigated for the first time the concomitant effect of climate changes on a tropical crop, passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), and its two main pollinator bee species (Xylocopa frontalis and X. grisescens)in the Neotropics considering two of the IPCC environmental scenarios, RCP 4.5; RCP 8.5 (Representative Concentration Pathway...

Farmers, gardeners and agronomists have detailed knowledge on how to maximise high quality crop production, especially in the context of external inputs including fertilization and pest management. However, detailed information on pollination is mainly available in the international scientific literature and often not accessible for local farmers o...

There is evidence that climate change may worsen the ecological conditions needed by many pollinator species for their survival; however, little is known about how the rise in ambient temperature might affect the survival of large bee species in tropical regions of the planet. This study investigated the thermoregulation mechanisms of the large car...

The biggest difficulty in using native bees for pollination is the almost non-existent supply of these bees for this purpose, which prevents their large-scale use. In the case of stingless bees, the only way currently to acquire a greater number of colonies is through their capture in the wild, which constitutes a crime against wildlife according t...

In eusocial insects, polygyny refers to the presence of multiple reproductive females in a colony, a phenomenon common in ants and wasps but less frequent in bees and termites. In Melipona quinquefasciata, a species of stingless bee that nests in the ground, we documented for the first time a polygynous colony and the interactions among its queens....

Introduction: Understanding how climate change affects the distribution of Amazonian bumblebee species is essential for their conservation and the pollination services they provide. This study focuses on two poorly known species, Bombus brevivillus and Bombus transversalis, evaluating how future climate scenarios may alter their suitable habitats i...

The selection of genotypes that exhibit resistance to pests has been proposed as an alternative to pesticide use. However, this resistance can also influence pollination by making the crops less appealing to pollinating bees. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the attractiveness of melon genotypes, which exhibit resistance traits agains...

Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α‐diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e., γ‐diversity), either due to reduced β‐diversity amplifying diversity loss or increased...

Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α-diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e., γ-diversity), either due to reduced β-diversity amplifying diversity loss or increased...

Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α-diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e., γ-diversity), either due to reduced β-diversity amplifying diversity loss or increased...

Meliponaries are an alternative for the preservation of stingless bee species, in addition to producing raw material for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. The presence of invaders that can cause damage to the integrity of productive areas is something that is frequently reported. The same happens in meliponaries, where bees can have many na...

Plant-pollinator interactions are critical to terrestrial ecosystem functioning and global food production but are experiencing increasing pressures from land use and global environmental changes. Plant functional traits and vegetation structure reflect the responses of vegetation to local environmental pressures and relate directly to the nesting...

Large carpenter bees of the genus Xylocopa are important pollinators of both wild and crop plants in Brazil. However, due to the nesting habits of most Xylocopa species, which involve excavating galleries in dead wood, their rational breeding for agricultural pollination has been a challenge for many years. In this chapter, we present improvements...

Bees of the genus Centris have the peculiarity of using floral oils for feeding their offspring and building their nests. For this reason, they are the main pollinators in the Americas and the Caribbean of plants that produce floral oils, whether cultivated or not. Although some species of Centris accept nesting in trap nests, this resource has bee...

Tetrapedia diversipes is a species of solitary bee that can be found in various regions of Brazil and the American continent. Despite its high dependence on plants whose flowers produce floral oil used in the feeding of offspring and nest construction, this bee visits a diversity of plant species, having the potential to be used in the pollination...

The orchid bee Euglossa (Euglossa) cordata (Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the representative species of the large Euglossini group, known for being bees with distinct physical and morphological characteristics, such as the metallic and showy coloration and the elongated length of their tongue. Although closely associated with orchids, they are potentia...

Despite the diversity o bees in Brazil, few species are studied or bred and, when they are, the focus has been on social bees, with little interest shown for solitary bees. Epanthidium tigrinum (Schrottky, 1905), for example, is a solitary bee of the Megachilidae family limited to the neotropical area, but with a wide geographic dispersion, being...

Melipona subnitida is a stingless bee species native to northeastern Brazil and of utmost ecological and economic importance for this region due to its products used and marketed by local populations, as well as its role in pollinating plants in the Caatinga biome and various cultivated species, especially in protected environments. However, the lo...

Well-known among meliponiculturists as the jati or mosquito bee, Plebeia flavocincta constitutes an essential part of the great diversity of stingless bees in Brazil. Despite being very popular in the Caatinga domains due to its gentle temper, easy manipulation o colonies, and productive aptitude, this small-sized bee species has still been poorly...

The genus Scaptotrigona encompasses a wide variety of species. In recent years, research on this group of bees has highlighted its signficant potential for use in crop pollination. However, the low efficiency o the techniques for colony multiplication has limited the number of colonies available for this purpose. Recent studies have explored alter...

Megachile (Ptilosarus) xanthura (Spinola, 1853) is a little-known species of bee that occurs in the neotropical region and exhibits a solitary lifestyle. Despite the behavior of cutting leaves to build its nest, it accepts well artificial nests and allows and responds to management practices which are important for the success of a breeding program...

Dicranthidium arenarium (Ducke, 1907) is a solitary bee of the tribe Anthidiini mainly found in Northeastern Brazil, where the largest tropical dry forest of South America, the Caatinga, is the predominant biome. Dicranthidium arenarium females use pre-existing cavities to build their nests, enabling their study through the use of trap nests, and d...

A maior dificuldade na utilização de abelhas nativas para a polinização é o fornecimento quase inexistente dessas abelhas para este fim, o que impede seu uso em larga escala. No caso das abelhas sem ferrão, a única maneira atualmente para a aquisição de um número maior de colônias é através da sua captura na natureza, o que constitui um crime contr...

Melipona subnitida é uma abelha nativa do Nordeste do Brasil e de suma importância ecológica e econômica para essa região por gerar produtos utilizados e comercializados pelas populações locais, além de ser responsável pela polinização de plantas do bioma Caatinga e várias espécies cultivadas, especialmente em ambiente protegido. Porém, a baixa dis...

Megachile (Ptilosarus) xanthura (Spinola, 1853) é uma espécie de abelha pouco conhecida que ocorre na região neotropical e apresenta modo de vida solitário. Apesar do comportamento de cortar folhas para construir seu ninho, ela nidifica bem em ninhos artificiais e permite e aceita manejos importantes para o sucesso de um criatório. No entanto, devi...

Dicranthidium arenarium (Ducke, 1907) é uma abelha solitária da tribo Anthidiini, que ocorre principalmente na região Nordeste do Brasil, cujo bioma predominante é a Caatinga. As fêmeas dessa abelha utilizam cavidades pré-existentes para construir seus ninhos possibilitando seu estudo através da técnica de ninhos-armadilha, demostrando sua potencia...

Apesar da diversidade de abelhas do Brasil, poucas espécies são estudadas, e muito menos criadas, e quando o são, o oco tem sido dado às abelhas sociais, com pouco interesse demonstrado para abelhas solitárias. Epanthidium tigrinum (Schrottky, 1905), por exemplo, é uma abelha solitária da amília Megachilidae limitada à área neotropical, mas que a...

Muito conhecida entre os meliponicultores como abelha jati ou mosquito, a espécie Plebeia flavocincta constitui uma parcela essencial da grande diversidade de meliponíneos no Brasil. Apesar de muito populares na região de Caatinga devido ao temperamento dócil, fácil manipulação das colônias e aptidão produtiva, essas abelhas de pequeno porte ainda...

As abelhas mamangavas do gênero Xylocopa são importantes polinizadoras de plantas silvestres e cultivadas no Brasil. No entanto, devido ao hábito da maioria das espécies de nidificar cavando galerias em troncos de madeira morta, o criatório de forma racional para uso dessas abelhas na polinização agrícola tem sido um desafio de muitos anos. Neste c...

As abelhas do gênero Centris apresentam a peculiaridade de usarem óleos florais na alimentação das crias e construção dos ninhos. Por essa razão, são os principais polinizadores nas Américas e Caribe das plantas produtoras de óleos florais, sejam cultivadas ou não. Apesar de algumas espécies de Centris aceitarem nidificar em ninhos-armadilha, esse...

A abelha das orquídeas Euglossa (Euglossa) cordata (Linnaeus, 1758) é uma das espécies representantes do grande grupo Euglossini, conhecidas por serem abelhas com distintas características físicas e morfológicas, como a coloração metalizada e vistosa e o alongado comprimento de sua língua. Ainda que muito associadas às orquídeas, elas são agentes p...

Tetrapedia diversipes é uma espécie de abelha solitária que pode ser encontrada em diversas regiões do Brasil e do continente americano. Apesar de possuir alta dependência de plantas cujas flores produzem o óleo floral utilizado na alimentação das crias e construção dos ninhos, essa abelha visita uma diversidade de espécies vegetais, tendo potencia...

O gêneroScaptotrigona, popularmente conhecido como canudo, possui uma grande diversidade de espécies. Nos últimos anos pesquisas com esse grupo de abelhas tem destacado seu grande potencial para uso em polinização de culturas agrícolas, mas a baixa eciência das técnicas de multiplicação de colônias tem restringido o número de colônias disponíveis...

Over the last quarter century, increasing honey bee colony losses motivated standardized large-scale surveys of managed honey bees (Apis mellifera), particularly in Europe and the United States. Here we present the first large-scale standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 bee...

Orchid bee species are important pollinators in the Neotropics. While male orchid bees are known to have a close interaction with odor-rewarding flowers, orchid bee females are often pollen generalists. In the current study, we investigated differences in the pollen diet diversity of orchid bees in various vegetation types and across sites with var...

Ecological intensification has been embraced with great interest by the academic sector but is still rarely taken up by farmers because monitoring the state of different ecological functions is not straightforward. Modelling tools can represent a more accessible alternative of measuring ecological functions, which could help promote their use among...

Over the last quarter century, increasing bee colony losses motivated standardized large-scale surveys of managed honey bees ( Apis mellifera ), particularly in Europe and the United States. Here we present the first large-scale standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 beekeep...

Tetrapedia diversipes Klug (Apidae) is a solitary bee with wide geographical distribution. Females of this species usually nest in pre-existing cavities and although their biology is relatively well known, studies on their trophic niche are still scarce. Thus, the present study aimed to identify the plant species used in the diet of immature T. div...

The bee Epanthidium tigrinum is native to Brazil and shows potential for use in pollinating agricultural crops. However, the little information available concerning its reproductive and feeding habits has prevented any rational breeding or management of these bees. The aim of this study was to investigate their acceptance of trap nests, and their n...

Melon is a pollinator-dependent crop that relies mainly on bees to set fruits. However, man-selected varieties vary in their attractiveness to flower visitors, and some flower genders and melon types may be less visited than others, harming pollination. We investigated the nectar composition of male, female and hermaphrodite flowers of 270 individu...

Encounters between flowers and invertebrates are key events for the functioning of tropical forests. Assessing the structure of networks composed of the interactions between those partners leads to a better understanding of ecosystem functioning and the effects of environmental factors on ecological processes. Gathering such data is, however, costl...

1. To sample bee communities, a combination of methods is necessary, the most common being hand netting (HN) and pan traps (PT). However, there has been little exploration into how vertical distribution of PT can improve their sampling efficiency, also taking the temporal variation of floral resources into account. 2. Here, we analysed the propert...

One of the limitations to greater expansion of Meliponiculture and conservation efforts of most stingless bee species is related to the low reproductive rate of colonies, both in the wild and in meliponaries. However, in Melipona, colonies regularly produce an excessive number of virgin queens which are eliminated by the workers. Here, we investiga...

Bombus brevivillus Franklin is a Neotropical Bombus species whose colonies are disappearing from most of its native range, and little is known about its biology and reproductive habits to help conservation or breeding efforts. Unlike Bombus species from temperate climates whose colonies perish every winter, there are suggestions of perennial coloni...

Background: Animal pollination is an important ecosystem function and service, ensuring both the integrity of natural systems and human well-being. Although many knowledge shortfalls remain, some high-quality data sets on biological interactions are now available. The development and adoption of standards for biodiversity data and metadata has pro...

The conservation status of pollinators and pollination in Latin America (LA) is reviewed. The knowledge regarding native and managed pollinators (e.g., honeybee and stingless bees) and pollination services was synthetized, and the guidelines to improve the opportunities for conservation are provided, considering the threats to pollinators and the p...

Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop y...

Phenological events, in particular, flowering phenology and aspects of floral biology help to understand the relationship of plants with their pollinators. Thus, this study sought to estimate, under semi-arid conditions, the relationship between different genotypes of pumpkin or winter squash (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) and the environment, under th...

Invasive species can reach high abundances and dominate native environments. One of the most impressive examples of ecological invasions is the spread of the African subspecies of the honey bee throughout the Americas, starting from its introduction in a single locality in Brazil. The invasive honey bee is expected to more negatively impact bee com...

Bees are the main pollinators of most cultivated and wild plant species. Unfortunately, due to the pesticide use, habitat loss, and climate change, they are declining worldwide. A machine learning model to anticipate temperature drops in honeybee colonies. The long short-term memory (LSTM) algorithm was applied to five real datasets with the follow...

Meliponines, popularly known as stingless bees, present a great diversity of species widely distributed in tropical regions. Some species are rationally reared to obtain bee products like honey, pollen and wax, and most of them are important pollinators of the native and cultivated fl ora in Brazil. Nevertheless, stingless bees are little investiga...

O Distúrbio do Colapso das Colônias (Colony Collapse Disorder, CCD) é um fenômeno associado ao desaparecimento repentino de abelhas melíferas em colônias manejadas. Registrado nos EUA desde 2006, o CCD tem como possíveis causas desde as variações climáticas, uso incorreto de defensivos químicos até pragas e doenças. Neste sentido, soluções computac...

The genus Scaura Schwarz is characterized by having specimens with metabasitarsus as inflated as the metatibia and malar space shorter than the diameter of the flagellum. Some of its species need both termitaria and preexisting cavities for nesting, in addition, this genus has specimens that build the brood cells in the form of horizontal discs (S....

While an increasing number of studies indicate that the range, diversity and abundance of many wild pollinators has declined, the global area of pollinator-dependent crops has significantly increased over the last few decades. Crop pollination studies to date have mainly focused on either identifying different guilds pollinating various crops, or o...

Urban areas can serve as biodiversity refuges for pollinators because of the high diversity of available floral and nesting resources. However, it remains unclear what plant species commonly used for urban landscaping provide floral resources that pollinators actively use. Here, we integrate data from the pollen and species distribution models of t...

The distribution of floral resources in time and space varies according to vegetation strata and to the influence of precipitation and photoperiod on flowering patterns. There are scarce studies jointly investigating the spatio-temporal distribution of plant resources for bees and at the community level, which are critical for planning strategies f...

Bees are prolific pollinators and are responsible for the pollination of most wild and cultivated plants. This study aimed to learn about the flight activity of the stingless bee Plebeia aff. flavocincta in tropical conditions as a parameter to evaluate the general state of the colonies, and to investigate the role of food resources and environment...

A distinctive new species of the Neotropical stingless bee genus Paratrigona Schwarz from northeastern Brazil, previously considered as a variation within P. lineata by Camargo and Moure (1994), is described and illustrated. Paratrigona intermedia Oliveira, Madella-Auricchio & Freitas sp. nov. belongs to the lineata group. It is easily distinguishe...

To better understand the relationship between Spondias mombin (Anacardiaceae) with its floral visitors, we investigated stigma receptivity and flowering pattern, as well as the abundance, frequency and behavior of bees visiting its flowers, aiming to discuss their potential as pollinator of this plant species. We studied S. mombin in an orchard in...

In hot climates, foraging bees risk overheating during food collection. Here, we investigated influence of ambient temperature on the foraging activity in Melipona subnitida, a stingless bee species that naturally occurs in the hottest and driest regions of the Brazilian tropical dry forest. We observed a decrease in round-trip duration of pollen f...

This study tested three types of Solid-Phase Microextraction fibers in developing a method to extract volatile organic compounds present in the diet of immature Centris analis. Samples were placed in glass vials with metal lids and added with 3g NaCl and 8 ml deionized water. Extraction and characterization were carried out using a Headspace – Soli...

Large-scale commercial production of pitaya is recent and there is little information on pollination and fruiting in this crop. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate if the Africanized honeybee (Apis mellifera), frequent visitor of pitaya flowers (Hylocereus undatus and H. polyrhizus), plays any relevant role in the polli...

Losses caused by the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) have been decreasing coffee production. This pest causes annual losses over U.S. $500 million. The chemical insecticides have been used to Coffee berry borer control. Due to their effects of pesticides on human and environmental health, some countries decided to ban the use of e...

Honey bees, important pollinators, are threatened by a variety of pests, pathogens and extreme climatic events, such as the winter period. This paper proposes a two-stages model that seeks to define and predict evolutionary scenarios for improving the bee colonies’ well-being. The used dataset has data from both internal and external beehive sensor...

One of the ways to reduce inappropriate management of hives and monitor bee health is to send notifications/alerts about the data collected through sensors. This study presents BeeNotified!, a solution for sending notifications through Telegram, e-mail, and SMS. The notifications warn about the level of temperature, humidity, sound, carbon dioxide,...

Bees are the main pollinators of most wild plant species and insect-pollinated crops and are essential for both plant ecosystems maintenance and humans food production. Among the crops used for human feeding, 75% depend on pollination. In addition to the fact that uncertainty around the beekeeping activity could jeopardize the economic value of pol...

About 85% of pollinating bees are solitary, but few are used for agricultural pollination. The Anthidiini tribe looks very promising in Brazil, in the light of ecosystem utility, but it is still a scientificaly poorly researched species. In order to fill this gap, studies on the bionomics of these species may collaborate on future efforts for the u...

The recent decline in population of generalist bees such as those of the genera Apis and Bombus has shown the need to breed and manage a larger number of bee species. Among the species with potential use for agricultural pollination in the Neotropics, a peculiar small group has specialised in collecting floral oil. Therefore, the aim of this study...

The book “Atlas of pollen and plants used by bees” was prepared with great care with the data of researchers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Colombia, who are collaborators of RCPol - Online Pollen Catalogs Network. RCPol was conducted during the development of the project entitled “Study of bee flora and pollen grains for the insertion of data...

The study investigated native solitary bee species that nest in pre-existing cavities in the Baturité Massif, State of Ceará, Brazil, their preference for nest substrates and aspects of these bee communities. Samples were taken in four distinct areas of the Baturité Massif using three types of trap-nests: dried bamboo internodes, cardboard tubes an...

Fazendeiros, agricultores e agrônomos têm conhecimentos detalhados de como maximizar a produção e qualidade de seus cultivos agrícolas, especialmente no contexto de insumos externos como os fertilizantes e o manejo de pragas. Contudo, informações sobre polinização geralmente estão disponíveis apenas na literatura científica internacional e quase s...

This study investigated the occurrence of individuals of stingless bees attracted by the trophic resources existing in four edge areas of forest fragments located in the Baturité Massif, State of Ceará. In this sense, the study evaluated the species richness in the areas; the absolute abundance of species; the similarity of species between edges; a...

The present work aimed to study floral biology, pollination requirements and the behavior of floral visitors in two species of pitaya, Hylocereus undatus and H. polyrhizus, in Northeastern Brazil. The experiment was carried out through diurnal and nocturnal observations and the use of flowers bagged or accessible to visitors. Results showed that fl...

As abelhas são essenciais à produção de alimentos para o ser humano e para manutenção dos ecossistemas. Esse artigo apresenta uma solução para calcular os níveis de estados de saúde de colônias de abelhas usando dados de sensores internos e externos à colônia e de inspeções in loco realizadas por apicultores. A clusterização foi usada para determin...

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield–related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance...

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield–related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance...

The aim of the study was to investigate the flight range and foraging behavior of the stingless bee Plebeia aff. flavocincta, as well as testing its attraction to different sugar syrup concentrations within different distances to the colony. Foraging pattern along the day, preference of bees for sugar concentration in nectar and their relationship...

Pollination is a key factor in global agricultural production, and there is a need to increase the number of bee species that can be bred for pollination in agriculture, such as the oil-collecting solitary bee Centris (Heterocentris) analis (Fabricius, 1804). In this study, the nesting and reproductive behavior of the bee were studied under tropica...

The study investigated the occupation and emergence of bees that nest in trap-nests and assessed aspects of the structure of such nests, sex ratio, parasitism and mortality of bees in four areas of Baturité Massif, State of Ceará. Samples were taken using three types of trap-nests: dried bamboo internodes, cardboard tubes and rational boxes. In the...