Foraging Behaviour of the Stingless Bee Melipona Orbignyi (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in a Dry Forest Assessed by Multivariate Analysis from Palynological Data
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Grana ISSN: 0017-3134 (Print) 1651-2049 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/sgra20 Foraging behaviour of the stingless bee Melipona orbignyi (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in a dry forest assessed by multivariate analysis from palynological data Favio Gerardo Vossler To cite this article: Favio Gerardo Vossler (2019): Foraging behaviour of the stingless bee Meliponaorbignyi (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in a dry forest assessed by multivariate analysis from palynological data, Grana, DOI: 10.1080/00173134.2019.1615984 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2019.1615984 Published online: 01 Jul 2019. Submit your article to this journal View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=sgra20 Grana, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2019.1615984 Foraging behaviour of the stingless bee Melipona orbignyi (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in a dry forest assessed by multivariate analysis from palynological data FAVIO GERARDO VOSSLER Laboratorio de Actuopalinología, CICYTTP (CONICET-Prov. ER-UADER), Dr. Materi y España, Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina Abstract Pollen analysis was applied to study the botanical composition of honey and pollen stored by Melipona orbignyi in its southernmost distributional range. Many studies have revealed that robust buzzing bees of this genus are associated with diverse plant families, some of which are different to those exploited by the remaining genera of Meliponini. Cluster analysis was performed to assess similarity in botanical composition between pot-pollen and pot-honey provisions from different colonies. The results indicated that each colony was capable to access to different plant species for obtaining nectar and pollen, a fact observed when discarding the contaminated honey samples. As honey samples were not clustered together with other ones but with pollen samples indicating a similar botanical composition, it could be assumed that a same plant species provided nectar and pollen to bees. Resource partitioning was not clearly observed among a subset of late spring colonies, as two families of high richness of species and abundant in this dry forest (the mimosoid clade in Fabaceae and Capparaceae) were foraged. A higher number of synchronously sampled colonies would be necessary to detect this ecological aspect. The botanical composition of samples of M. orbignyi was governed by both random factors such as local and temporary flower availability plus preferences for particular plant species such as those from Solanaceae and Ximeniaceae. The Capparaceae and Ximeniaceae are here reported for the firsttimeasintensively foraged pollen resources by the genus Melipona. Keywords: buzzing, Chaco forest, eusocial bee, meliponiculture, ‘moro moro’, pollen analysis, pot-honey, pot-pollen Melipona Illiger is an endemic genus of the Americas, well as for home medicine since ancient times (Vellard it is distributed from Mexico to the north of Argen- 1939; Camargo & Posey 1990;Nogueira-Neto1997; tina. In Argentina it is composed of seven species, six Arenas 2003; Cortopassi-Laurino et al. 2006; of them are found in the northeast and northwest Kujawska et al. 2012;Zamudio&Hilgert2012;Roig- rainy forest (Silvestri 1902;Schwarz1932; Michener Alsina et al. 2013). 2007; Camargo & Pedro 2013; Roig-Alsina et al. In the present article, pollen analysis was used to 2013). In western dry areas of the Argentinean study the botanical origin of honey and pollen stored Chaco forest, the stingless bee Melipona (Melipona) by Melipona orbignyi. Floral resources associated orbignyi (Guérin), regionally known as ‘moro moro’, with M. orbignyi have been studied through the produces reputable honey, brown wax and pollen investigation of floral visits along the northern edge masses that are harvested from wild nests by local of the South American Chaco region (Corumbá, people (Arenas 2003). The ‘moro moro’ builds its state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil; Manente- nests in well protected hollows of tree trunks (mainly Balestieri & Balestieri 2006) and in the Dry Chaco of large living trees) (Arenas 2003;Vossler2012). forest (northern Argentina; Vossler 2012). Pot-honey and pollen from Melipona species have Floral nectar and pollen resources used by the genus been reported as a culturally important for food as Melipona have been well-studied throughout its Neotro- Correspondence: Favio Gerardo Vossler, Laboratorio de Actuopalinología, CICYTTP (CONICET-Prov. ER-UADER), Dr. Materi y España, Diamante, Entre Ríos E3105BWA, Argentina. E-mail: [email protected] (Received 8 April 2018; accepted 16 March 2019) © 2019 Collegium Palynologicum Scandinavicum 2 F. G. Vossler pical distribution (Absy & Kerr 1977;Absyetal.1980; Due to the importance of stingless bees in meli- Kleinert-Giovannini & Imperatriz-Fonseca 1987; poniculture, crop pollination and forest conserva- Ramalho et al. 1989, 2007;Antoninietal.2006; Oli- tion, the aim of this study was to assess the veira et al. 2009; Vossler 2013; Villanueva-Gutiérrez similarity in botanical composition of pollen and et al. 2018). These studies have revealed that these honey provisions from colonies of the ‘moro moro’ robust buzzing bees are associated with diverse plant (Melipona orbignyi) in the dry forest of the Chaco families, some of which are different to those exploited region by means of multivariate analyses. by the other genera of the Meliponini tribe (Ramalho et al. 1989, 1990). The families associated with Meli- pona fornectarandpollensourcesaremainlyMyrta- Material and methods ceae, Melastomataceae, Solanaceae and Fabaceae Pollen analysis of honey and pollen mass (mimosoid clade) followed by Anacardiaceae, Bursera- ceae, Euphorbiaceae, Guttiferae, Fabaceae (Papilionoi- In the present work, a total of eight honey and nine deae), Moraceae and Arecaceae (Ramalho et al. 1989). pollen samples (one per nest) were palynologically In the subtropical Dry Chaco forest, Myrtaceae and analysed from nine nests sampled in a xerophilous Melastomataceae families are rarely represented or not forest at two localities of the Argentinean Chaco: El present at all, while the other families commonly asso- Espinillo (25° 24ʹ S, 60° 27ʹ W) and El Sauzalito ciated with tropical Melipona species are well- (24° 24ʹ S, 61° 40ʹ W) (Figure 1, Table I). This represented. These include Fabaceae (mimosoid forest is named as ‘palosantal’ due to a dominant clade), Solanaceae, Anacardiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, zygophyllaceous tree, the ‘palo santo’ (Bulnesia sar- Fabaceae (Papilionoideae) and Arecaceae. Like all mientoi Lorentz ex Griseb.). Pot-honey and pot- Meliponini genera, Melipona bees concentrate their pollen samples were taken during winter, spring foraging on the plant families that are best represented and summer, between February 2006 and Febru- in the environment (Ramalho et al. 1990). Thus, it is ary 2009 (Table I). Per nest, one representative expected to find plant families that have not been pre- sample of honey was kept. Honey samples were viously reported for tropical species to be associated pure in nests 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11, while they were with this southernmost distributed subtropical Meli- contaminated from pot-pollen during their sampling pona species. in nests 8 and 10. The pollen of different pots of Figure 1. Location of the Chaco region within South America, the two sites of the present study: 1, El Espinillo (25° 24ʹ S, 60° 27ʹ O); 2, El Sauzalito (24° 24ʹ S, 61° 40ʹ O) and a further site where floral resources foraged by this bee species have been previously studied: * Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil (22° 14ʹ S, 53° 66ʹ W). Foraging behaviour of M. orbignyi in Chaco dry forest 3 each nest was mixed and analysed as a single sam- ple. Honey and pollen samples were dissolved with a glass rod in 200 mL of distilled water at 80─90 ºC and then with a magnetic stirrer for 10─15 min. - 6 5 8 7 6 Five millilitres of this mixture was centrifuged at 10 14 16 472 g (Pendlenton 2006) and the sediment was honey samples dehydrated and acetolyzed (Erdtman 1960), 24 pollen types mounted in slides using a glicerine-gelatin mixture Number of pollen types in and identified using a Nikon Eclipse E200 light microscope at 400 and 1000 × magnification. Pollen identification was carried out by comparing pollen provision slides with the pollen reference of plants grown in the sites sampled. The counting of 500 pollen grains per slide was made for honey samples, while a total of 300–500 grains for pollen ones. 9 8 9 6 8 5 5 6 These reference plant specimens were pressed, 24 dried, identified by the author and deposited in the pollen samples Herbaria of the Museo of La Plata (LP), the Museo 25 pollen types Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Riva- Number of pollen types in davia’ (BA), Buenos Aires, and the Herbarium Lor- Melipona orbignyi. entz (DTE) of Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina. Bees were identified by Arturo Roig-Alsina and deposited in the Entomology Collection of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernar- ) dino Rivadavia’, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Locality Figure 1 (for reference see Climate conditions and vegetation of the study area El Sauzalito El Sauzalito El Sauzalito El Sauzalito El Sauzalito 2 localities The climate in the study area is strongly seasonal with very hot summer (December to March) and low temperatures and frost during winter (July to Sep- tember) (Prado 1993). There is a manifest yearly variation in rainfall, with