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Colony foraging in different species of stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponinae) and the regulation of individual nectar foraging
Abstract
Summary: For Melipona fasciata, M. beecheii, M. favosa and Tetragonisca angustula we found distinct intergeneric differences in foraging activity patterns. The Melipona species had a longer daily foraging activity period than T. angustula. Pollen foraging patterns of the Melipona species were different from that of T. angustula: Melipona collect pollen earlier in the day. In an experimental habitat without competitors, Melipona favosa did not collect pollen very early in the day. Individually marked returning foragers demonstrated in the course of the day distinct differences in nature and frequency of interactions with nest mates. Individual foraging flight frequency was lower and the intranidal transfer of nectar was delayed when syrup of a lower concentration was offered. The regulation of daily foraging activity patterns and the nectar foraging behaviour of individual worker bees are discussed.
... Significant peak of pollen foraging occurred during the noon hours, which was in line with previous reports which stated that peak pollen foragers were at 12 noon (13). Whereas inconsistent with a few findings which stated that peak pollen foraging activity is in early morning hours, this contradiction might be due the floral rewards availability and microclimate suitability (14,15). The fallouts of the present study are contradictory with the findings which reported that the peak activity of Tetragonula sp. is during 1000 to 1100 h and the contradictory might be due to the different agroclimatic factors affecting the crop and bees (16). ...
The present study on stingless bee was carried out during Rabi and Kharif of 2022-2023 in farmers field at Oddanchatram, Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu to evaluate their efficiency in pollinating onion, cultivated for seed purpose. Two fields (10 km apart) were used, one with stingless bees (2 colonies/acre) and one without. Foraging activity was monitored every 4 days over 36 days and onion seed yield and germination were compared between open pollination and covered umbels. During Rabi, peak foraging activity occurred from 1100 to 1200 h with 23.6 outgoing bees/5min/h. Pollen and nectar foragers peaked between 1200 and 0100 h with means of 6.5 and 20.1 bees/5min/h, while resin foragers showed peaks at 1200-0100 and 0500-0600 h. Managed pollination yielded 165 kg/acre with 88% germination compared to 120 kg/acre and 77% without bees. In Kharif, similar peaks were observed, with pollen, nectar and resin foragers averaging 4.3, 19.4 and 2.0 bees/5min/h, respectively. Seed yield was 150 kg/acre with stingless bee pollination versus 110 kg/acre without bees, with germination rates of 86% and 74%. Stingless bee pollination improved onion seed yield by 37.5% in Rabi and 36% in Kharif, demonstrating their significant role in boosting crop productivity. Future studies should explore the long-term impacts of stingless bee pollination on crop yields and biodiversity.
... Additionally, M. scutellaris bees, with their darker coloration, absorb more heat, which helps maintain body temperature during cooler periods of the day. In contrast, T. angustula, despite its smaller size that could lead to overheating, absorbs less heat due to its lighter color, allowing it to forage during the hottest hours (Bruijn and Sommeijer 1997). Foraging later in the day might enable T. angustula to capitalize on pollen remnants left by larger bees, as its smaller size requires less food (Imperatriz-Fonseca et al. 1984). ...
The Meliponini tribe is the most diverse group of social bees, thriving across tropical regions. Breeding stingless bees (meliponiculture) holds significant ecological and economic value. In meliponaries, multiple species often share small foraging areas, a scenario less common in natural environments. Due to deforestation, stingless bees face a diminishing availability of natural nesting sites, which are often found in hollow tree trunks. Consequently, meliponaries serve as a crucial nesting resource. In this study, we examined whether Melipona scutellaris and Tetragonisca angustula share pollen resources when reared closely together in high-density nest environment at the RCCO Meliponary in Aldeia, Camaragibe, and Pernambuco, which could potentially lead to competition. Our findings indicate that these bee species utilize different pollen sources, being Araceae type 1, Mimosoideae type 1, Asteraceae type 1, and Myrtaceae type 1 the most important for differentiating between groups. Their daily activity periods outside the nest differ, leading to varying responses to changes in temperature and humidity. The results suggest that competition for pollen resources may not be a significant issue between the two bee species in such situations.
... Furthermore, the weak correlation between activity and temperature in M. quadrifasciata is also of interest, especially because this species is most active in the early morning hours, when temperatures are still relatively lower (Fig. 3A). This suggests that the early onset and acrophase of activity may be more of an adaptation to food-gathering behavior, especially related to pollen availability, than a response to environmental conditions (Roubik 1989), and similar results have been reported for other Melipona species (Bruijn and Sommeijer 1997;Fidalgo and Kleinert 2010;Maia-Silva et al. 2014;Oliveira-Abreu et al. 2014). Since colonies of M. quadrifasciata are generally smaller in terms of population size than those of many of the other stingless bees, the early arrival at pollen source would allows them to efficiently compete for resources. ...
As pollinators, bees are key to maintaining the biodiversity of angiosperm plants, and for agriculture they provide a billion-dollar ecosystem service. But they also compete for resources (primarily nectar and pollen), especially the highly social bees that live in perennial colonies. So, how do they organize their daily temporal activities? Here, we present a versatile, low-cost device for the continuous, automatic recording and data analysis of the locomotor activity in the colony-entrance tube of highly eusocial bees. Consisting of an in-house built block containing an infrared detector, the passage of bees in the colony entrance tunnel is registered and automatically recorded in an Arduino environment, together with concomitant recordings of temperature and relative humidity. With a focus on the highly diverse Neotropical stingless bees (Meliponini), we obtained 10-day consecutive recordings for two colonies each of the species Melipona quadrifasciata and Frieseomelitta varia, and also for the honey bee. The Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis identified a predominant circadian rhythmicity for all three species, but also indications of ultradian rhythms. For M. quadrifasciata, which is comparable in size to the honey bee, we found evidence for a possibly anticipatory activity already before sunrise. As all three species also presented activity at night in the colony entrance tube, this also raises questions about sleep organization in social insects. The cost and versatility of the device and the open-source options for data analysis make this an attractive system for conducting studies on circadian rhythms in social bees under natural conditions, complementing studies on flower visits by these important pollinators.
... In Australia, the species Trigona carbonaria Smith's daily activity period was found to be longer during the warmer months [22]. In Costa Rica, Melipona fasciata, M. beecheii, and M. favosa had longer daily foraging periods than Tetragonisca angustula [23]. Such environmental preferences could indicate the species' responses to upcoming climate changes. ...
Background
Stingless bees are vital pollinators and honey producers in the tropics. Research on stingless bees is generally underrepresented compared to the western honeybees, and while stingless bee studies from some regions are reported, there is a particular lack of reports on the species endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa. Since conventional entomological methods such as mark-recapture and radar harmonic tags suffer from limited observation counts and amount to a significant payload, fluorescent powder tagging offers a promising alternative to understanding their behavior. We deploy a hyperspectral fluorescence lidar monitors a 25-mm-wide transect in front of the hives.
Results
During a 1 day study at the International Stingless Bee Center, near Kakum National Park, Ghana, 17,862 insects were observed with the lidar, of which 7520 were tagged with fluorescent dyes. Approximately half of the bees from the selected hives were successfully tagged, with an estimated misclassification of 1%. According to our limited data, the observed species, Meliponula bocandei and the Dactylurina staudingeri exhibited different activity patterns. D. staudingeri displayed a half-hour longer active day, with clear crepuscular activity peaks. In contrast, M. bocandei activity was diurnal, with less pronounced crepuscular peaks.
Conclusions
We demonstrate how hyperspectral fluorescence lidar can monitor powder-tagged insects throughout the day. The monitored species revealed distinct activity patterns over the day. Our findings highlight the potential of this technology as a valuable tool for understanding insect behavior and environmental preferences of species, in situ, which could potentially give clues of response to climate changes of these critical species.
The Maya bee, Melipona beecheii, has been an integral part of Mayan culture on the Yucatan Peninsula for several centuries. In the present study, we explore the daily food-foraging behavior of M. beecheii during the year and compare its foraging behavior during summer and winter with the foraging behavior of honeybees during the same periods in the Yucatan Peninsula. Annual behavior showed a remarkable tendency toward pollen foraging during the early hours of the day, whereas nectar foraging peaked at midday. Factors such as season, resource, and hour significantly influence the daily activity of M. beecheii and A. mellifera. We detected noticeable differences in foraging behavior between summer and winter in both Maya bees and honeybees. Honeybees preferred foraging earlier pollen during winter and nectar during summer, whereas Maya bees preferred foraging pollen earlier during summer. Finally, we observed that both bee species made far more foraging trips during winter than in summer.
The core objective of this study was to determine suitable pollination methods among stingless bee pollination, open pollination with stingless bee colony and self-pollination, along with the foraging activity of bees in relation to weather influences and their impact on fruit yield and qualities. This investigation was carried out during the Kharif and Rabi cropping seasons using 3 different pollination methods. Bee foraging activity in relation to weather factors was observed at different times of day during the flowering period until the first harvest of chilli fruits and yield attributes were ascertained from all treatments. Results showed that during the Kharif and Rabi cropping seasons, the foraging activity in open pollination supplemented with stingless bee peaked between 1200–1400 h and 1100–1200 h with outgoing bees (28.6 and 25.2 bees/5 min/h), pollen foragers (8.4 and 4.3) and nectar foragers (27.0 and 21.4) respectively. Furthermore, the peak resin foragers (3.7) were observed in Kharif between 1600 – 1700 h and in Rabi (2.3) between 1100–1200 h. In both seasons, all foragers were positively influenced by temperature and wind, whereas negatively influenced by rainfall and relative humidity. Amongst Kharif and Rabi cropping, the yield attributes like the number of flower setting/plant (183.67 ± 11.90 and 177.00 ± 14.76), number of fruit setting/plant (82.67 ± 1.25 and 80.00 ± 0.82) and yield (1099.33 ± 69.93 and 984.20 ± 108.59 kg/ac) were maximum in the open pollination with stingless bee, followed by bee and self-pollination. These findings underscore the significant role of stingless bees in increased chilli production. Detailed foraging behavior in relation to weather factors was studied to inform future crop-specific manageable pollination.
Os objetivos do presente experimento foram estudar, em área urbana, os visitantes nas inflorescências da babosa (Aloe vera L. Burm), bem como, o tipo de coleta efetuado (néctar ou pólen) e o comportamento de forrageamento desses visitantes, durante três anos (2009, 2010 e 2011). A frequência dos visitantes florais foi obtida por contagem nos primeiros 10 minutos de cada horário, das 7h00 às 18h00, em três dias distintos, por meio de observações visuais, em todos os anos. O comportamento de forrageamento de cada espécie foi avaliado por meio de observações diretas, no decorrer do dia, no período experimental. As flores ficavam abertas durante todo o dia, por três dias. Em 2009, foram observadas apenas abelhas Pseudaugochloropsis gramínea nas inflorescências da babosa. Em 2010, observou-se apenas a abelha Trigona spinipes, em 2011, apenas abelhas Nannotrigona testaceicornis foram observadas visitando as inflorescências da babosa, demonstrando que houve uma modificação na população dessas abelhas presentes na área observada, no decorrer dos anos. Essas abelhas coletaram exclusivamente pólen nas flores da babosa. Apesar de mais frequentes no período da tarde, as visitas dessas abelhas foram mais longas no período da manhã.
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is a multi-billion-dollar business. This tropical crop strongly depends on animal pollination for fruit development and seed production. The lack or inefficiency of natural pollinators in cocoa plantations has driven farmers to search for alternatives, such as laborious pollination by hand. A so far untested alternative, which has received increasing attention during the past couple of years, is targeted crop pollination through managed social bees. However, owing to the smallness of the flowers of T. cacao as well as structural barriers that impede large insects to access the stigma, only tiny bees may be a viable option for targeted cocoa pollination. In the present study, we asked whether small stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini) could come into consideration as managed cocoa crop-pollinators, especially in shadowy agroforests. Among the 188 meliponine species native to the Brazilian Amazon region, which comprises an important portion of the center of origin of T. cacao, we selected 52 species based on morphological criteria (intertegular distance ≤ 1.4 mm; body length: 2.2-6.0 mm). Important for cocoa production, some of these Meliponini have an ample geographic distribution, occurring both in the center of origin of T. cacao and beyond (centers of cocoa production in Brazil: Para: 35 spp., Bahia: 10 spp.). Presumably all species may be active at illuminance levels below those found in heavily shaded cocoa plantations, at least at times when anthers show full dehiscence and during maximum receptivity of the stigma. The bees' potential to forage under reduced light regimes is corroborated by the finding that between 20 and 60% of the naturally exploited food sources are understory vegetation, including herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, and lianas. Many of the selected Meliponini build their nests, at least facultatively, in tree cavities, which facilitates their transfer to rational hives and, hence, the use of managed colonies in directed crop pollination. Important next steps for validating the potential of these small stingless bees in targeted cocoa pollination should comprise detailed studies on their foraging behavior and olfactory learning capacities.
Stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) are key pollinators of both cultivated and wild plants in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. While most species are found in lowland to mid-elevations, a few have adapted to high elevations, and their biology remains poorly understood. We assess the foraging pattern of Parapartamona zonata (Smith) in the central Andes of Colombia (2583 m.a.s.l.) and apply computer tomography to visualize and characterize its internal nest architecture. Bees foraged for pollen and nesting materials (resin and/or mud) from sunrise (5:40 h) to sunset (17:45), even at ambient temperatures as low as 11 °C. Foraging varied significantly throughout the day and temperature and sky condition explained 47% of its variance. Differences in the nest architecture, when compared with previous records, suggest that nesting behavior might be variable. These results are discussed in the context of behavioral adaptations in this unique environmental niche.
Bee colonies in lowland forest in Panama were monitored for pollen and nectar harvest, pollen species utilization and nectar quality and quantity per returning forager. Despite sharing most pollen resources and nectar of the same quality with 20 introduced colonies of the African honey bee ( Apis mellifera ), native stingless bees of 12 species were largely unaffected by its activity. Pollen and nectar harvested by the honey bees were 10–200 times that procured by 17 stingless bee colonies. This discrepancy in total harvest and general lack of competitive effect is explained by a honey bee foraging area over 10 times that of the native bees, and apparent foraging shifts to escape competition with honey bees, thus reduced potential overlap in foraging sites.
Seven cases of direct resource competition for pollen or nectar were documented, out of 31 tests. Rare periods of intensive harvest were diminished by competing African honey bees. Such harvest peaks lasted for only a few hours in 13 days of observation. Despite average duration of 4% foraging time for each species, peaks included as much as 51% total harvest. Calculations based upon colony populations, food stores and flight range show that if African honey bees persist at a density of 1 colony per km ² , colonies of some stingless bee species may disappear after 10 years. Their chances of escaping food competition by taxonomic specialization on flowers seem slight.
Foi estudada a influência de fatores climáticos (temperatura, intensidade luminosa e umidade relativa) na atividade externa de Tetragonisca angustula (jatai).A análise de regressão e correlação sugeriu que a temperatura seguida da intensidade luminosa e umidade relativa foram fatores importantes na saída efetiva das abelhas. Provavelmente a interação entre a temperatura e a intensidade luminosa foi a principal determinante da atividade de vôo, pois as Tetragonisca angustula não saiam de suas colmeias a temperaturas baixas, mesmo com boa intensidade luminosa.
Flowers of Ipomoea triloba, I. Setifera, I. battatas, and Aniseia martinicensis growing in three areas of disturbed vegetation in Costa Rica were visited by a large number of foraging insects during the dry-season moths of February and March 1967. The commonest foragers collecting pollen or nectar, or both, were bees in the families Anthophoridae, Apidae, Colletidae, and Halictidae. The species of bees varied with the locality and with the species of plant, but an ordered and predictable sequence in groups of foragers was seen throughout the few hours in the morning that the flowers remained open. Each species of bee had a foraging period for a definite portion of the morning, and the peak activity was often at a different time for each species of bee, usually in mid-or late morning. The average time of an individual bee visit to a flower varied also, and the longest individual visits were early in the morning in at least four genera. The average number of insect visits to 106 flowers was about 20, but ranged from 1 to 142. These flowers seemed morphologically well suited for cross pollination, and the bees foraging in them doubtless served as effective pollen vectors.
We report on differences in foraging and recruitment patterns among 6 stingless bee species simultaneously exploiting a large grid of baits in a tract of tropical dry forest in Costa Rica. Comparative data for the species were obtained on the following parameters of foraging: time to initial bait discovery, rate of discovery of additional baits, rate of worker recruitment, time till attainment of approximate steady-state number of workers and visited baits, frequency of number of workers per bait, degree of site constancy of foraging within and between days, and responses to presence of intraspecific and interspecific rivals at baits. All species had unique aspects to their foraging, which reflected whether the species mark food sources and lay trails with pheromones, the degree to which workers forage solitarily, and their use of aggression. The behavior of Trigona fuscipennis, the pheromone-using group forager, was particularly distinctive. It found baits the most slowly, was the most site constant, and excluded all other bees from its baits. We hypothesize that in group foragers, extreme localization of workers and resultant slowness of discovery of new food sources represent a trade-off for the advantages of group defense of good sources. Other responses to rival bees included bullying tactics by lone, marauding workers of the large, facultative recruiter, Trigona silverstriana, and persistent, opportunistic insinuation by small, solitary foraging species. Spatial segregation of foraging location between the species increased over time on each day of the experiment, especially among interspecifically aggressive species. The observed diversity of tempo and mode of foraging reinforces the hypothesis that coexistence among these apparently food-limited social bees does not result from the simple partitioning of food resources by size or taxon, but from rather subtle partitioning based upon diversity in the timing, persistence, renewal rate, and spatial dispersion of their limited food resourves.
The relationship between nectar scheduling and availability and the patterns of a pollinating guild's foraging on two species of co-occurring morning glory was investigated in disturbed habitats of the lower montane rain forests at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Ipomoea indica and Ipomoea batatas partition pollinating resources, presumably according to tongue length, with long-tongued bees visiting I. indica. Bees visiting I. batatas show staggered visitation times with larger bees visiting in the early morning when nectar is most available and smaller bees visiting in the late morning and afternoon when nectar availability is at its minimum. The larger bee species of the early morning return in the late afternoon after nectar availability has increased from its early afternoon low. Since no aggression was observed between bee species, small bees may be prevented from foraging in the early morning by cold temperatures. The larger bees probably do not forage when there is very little nectar available. I. indica shows no such pattern. Due to the deeper effective corolla of I. indica, nectar may be inaccessible to most bees in the habitat, consequently, no pattern should be expected. However, lack of a pattern may also be the result of this plant's recent introduction to the area.
The stingless bee Trigona jaty frequently visits cocoa (Theobroma cacao) flowers in Central America. In some plantations, it is common and collects much pollen throughout the year. Experiments were conducted in a plantation in northeastern Costa Rica to examine the role of T jaty as a pollinator of cocoa. The behaviour of a thriving colony was observed on two cocoa trees in a large screen cage and flower drop and fruit set were compared with those of two enclosed trees without bees in a similar cage. Flower drop and fruit set on branches exposed and protected from bees were also examined. It was concluded that T jaty is not an effective pollinator of cocoa because of its behaviour in removing excessive pollen which does not change even when the ratio of bees to flowers is low. Bees collect pollen peripherally from flowers, precluding any contact with the centrally-located stigma. The bees remove much pollen from cocoa flowers, an activity that perhaps reduces the attractiveness of flowers to other insects that might be effective pollinators.
(1) Artificial pollinations, conducted on Andira inermis in a Lowland Dry forest in Costa Rica, demonstrated that this massively-flowering, papilionaceous tree species is self-incompatible. (2) Two periods of nectar flow were recorded: one from about 0800 hours to 0900 Central Standard Time and the second from about 1100 to 1400 hours. Pollen, which is released during the first period of nectar flow, retained its viability for at least 24 h. (3) Approximately seventy bee species were collected on Andira flowers. (4) A mark-and-recapture investigation demonstrated that, although most solitary bees stay on one tree, a significant number move between conspecific trees (0.3-1.3% on the first day). Only eight species, six of which were in Centris (Anthophoridae), were recorded moving between trees. (5) Some of the marked bees were also collected on another nearby papilionaceous tree species, Dalbergia retusa, that came into unseasonal flowering during the course of the investigation. (6) The low inter-tree movement frequencies of the bees appear to be sufficient to account for most, if not all, of the observed fruit set. (7) Suggestions are made as to why bees might move from one large resource to another.
The occurrence of enlarged ocelli in nocturnal foraging bees has led to a quantitative study of the relation between ocellar size and foraging activity in a number of species of bees. The results show a negative correlation between ocellar size and the light intensity threshold for foraging. Ocelli also increase with head size, but this relationship is not as good a predictor of ocellar size as is the light intensity threshold. No nocturnal foraging bees have small head sizes, and it is suggested that this may be the result of selection for larger ocelli for bees that forage at very low light intensities. The results are all compatible with the observation that ocelli serve as enhancers of the sensitivity of compound eyes.