Competition interactions among stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) for Croton yucatanensis Lundell resins
- PDF / 680,608 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 95 Downloads / 205 Views
SCIENTIFIC NOTES
Competition interactions among stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) for Croton yucatanensis Lundell resins Alejandro Reyes-González 1
&
Fernando Zamudio 2
Received: 22 August 2019 / Accepted: 4 May 2020 # African Association of Insect Scientists 2020
Abstract Stingless bees use extrafloral resources such as resins for nest construction, defense systems and chemical communication. We conducted the first study of the resin-collecting process from Croton yucatanensis Lundell shrubs by three stingless bee species in the tropical deciduous forest of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, Costa Rica. We performed systematic observations on 10 C. yucatanensis shrubs for 10-min periods between 8:20 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for three days, and for 90 min we focused on behavior and interaction among bees on three shrubs. Trigona corvina Cockerell was the most frequent visitor. These bees made cuts on shrub stems and leaves to collect resin and transport it in their corbiculae. Others visitor species were Trigona fulviventris Guérin and Plebeia frontalis Friese, which tried to approach the resin remains left by T. corvina. While monopolizing the resource, T. corvina behaved aggressively if approached by T. fulviventris. Towards the last hour of sampling, T. fulviventris visits increased notably, which may indicate a decrease in the dominance or aggressiveness of T. corvina at that time. This tendency seems to be the beginning of temporal resource partitioning behavior commonly observed in bee communities. We provide novel observations on the ways in which stingless bees collect resin and the interactions that occur among them. We also propose and discuss working hypotheses to explain the fact that all the individuals observed almost exclusively visited a single C. yucatanensis specimen. Keywords Aggressive interaction . Plant resin . Trigona corvina . Trigona fulviventris . Guanacaste conservation area
Introduction Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are an important hymenopteran social group in the tropics, given their diversity, abundance and major role in pollination (Roubik 1989; Slaa et al. 2006; Michener 2007). They collect a wide range of extrafloral resources, among which resins are particularly important (Roubik 1989, 2006; Noll et al. 1996; Biesmeijer and Slaa 2004; Michener 2007; Leonhardt and Blüthgen 2009). Resins are sticky aromatic substances secreted by plants, which contain diverse volatile compounds and fulfill
* Alejandro Reyes-González [email protected] 1
Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701 Col. Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta C.P, 58190 Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
2
Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
defensive purposes against herbivores and microbes (Langenheim 2003). Many stingless bee species use resin mixed with wax for nest construction (Roubik 2006). They also use resin as a defense system, e.g., by placing resins o
Data Loading...
