Pollen Load Spectrum of Tomato Pollinators
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INSECT POLLINATORS
Pollen Load Spectrum of Tomato Pollinators AP HAUTEQUESTT1 , MS DEPRÁ1, V GONÇALVES-ESTEVES2, CBF MENDONÇA2, MC GAGLIANONE1 1
Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, Lab de Ciências Ambientais, Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Campos dos Goytacazes, Univ Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2 Museu Nacional, Departamento de Botânica, Univ Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Keywords Bees, Bombini, Exomalopsini, Solanaceae, tomato, pollinator conservation Correspondence A.P. Hautequestt, Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, Lab de Ciências Ambientais, Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Campos dos Goytacazes, Univ Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil; anna. [email protected] Edited by Márcia M Maués – Embrapa Received 15 September 2019 and accepted 13 May 2020 * Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil 2020
Abstract Vibrating bees are the main pollinators of the tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Knowledge of other alternative food resources for these bees is fundamental for pollinator management actions in agricultural areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the plants used as food resources for the main pollinators Bombus morio (Swederus) and Exomalopsis analis Spinola in plantation areas. The study was conducted in 12 plantation areas in São José de Ubá, southeastern Brazil, during the flowering period of S. lycopersicum. The pollen material contained on the hind legs of 40 B. morio females and 72 E. analis females was analyzed and compared with the reference slides made from 155 flowering plant species (35 botanical families) sampled close to the plantations. The pollen material was submitted to acetolysis and mounted in glycerin gelatin and analyzed under optical microscope. From B.morio corbiculae were identified 188 pollen types (52 identified from reference slides) and 189 types from E. analis scopae (54 in reference slides). Besides tomato pollen, other most abundant types belong to Fabaceae (8%) in B. morio samples, and Hyptis and Solanum sp in E. analis samples. The trophic niche overlap was close to zero when the tomato pollen was disregarded, indicating that both pollinators use distinct sources. The results confirm the generalist character of tomato pollinators; in addition, the use of floral resources from several other plants, even at tomato flowering peak, emphasizes the importance of maintaining flowering plant composition around agricultural areas.
Introduction Vibrating bees are the most efficient visitors of flowers with closed anthers, such as poricide flowers (Nunes Silva et al 2010). Female bees land on the anthers, grasp the stamens, and through thoracic muscle contractions produce vibration through resonance that energizes the pollen causing its expulsion from the anthers. Thus, the pollen grains reach the bee’s body region that is directed to the anther opening. From this site, pollen is transferred through anterior and middle leg movements to the transpor
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