Influência do adensamento de ninhos de Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758 sobre a produtividade de Melipona (Melikerria) fasciculata Smith, 1854 (Hymenoptera, Apidae) em uma região da baixada maranhense

Abstract

Bees are indispensable in maintaining biodiversity, given the ecosystem services they provide through pollination. In Brazil, stingless bees were the only honey producers until the introduction of the species Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758. This species known as Africanized due to the crossing of European varieties with African variety, is distributed throughout Brazilian territory and due to its high production of honey, their populations are housed in hives and raised under heavy conditions threatening the native bees and consequently the flora. Thus, our objective was to determine the influence of A. mellifera nests displacement by densification and densification of the nests on the productivity of the populations of Melipona (Melikerria) fasciculata Smith, 1854). We performed the study in the town of Ibacá do Coaçuzinho, municipality of Viana, Maranhão, Brazil, during the months of September and December of 2015. We used five colonies of M. fasciculata and five colonies of A. mellifera, in which we monitor productivity by collecting and weighing the entire honey and pollen stock and identifying the type of pollen collected by the two species for trophic niche composition. In the unsettled situation in September there was a significant change in the collection of pollen from M. fasciculata, on the other hand, the amount of honey produced did not change. In December, we observed that the amount of pollen collected by M. fasciculata in both densification and densification was much lower. M. fasciculata collected pollen in 16 plant families and A. mellifera in 23. The present study showed that in the month of September (non densification) the two species of bees had their niches expanded, however, in both situations (densification / non densification) the niche amplitude of M. fasciculata was lower than that of A. mellifera. On the other hand, the overlap and similarity of the niches are small in the two situations studied. Our results raise the need to consider the Precautionary Principle in any decision to be taken at the level of population management of A. mellifera since this species may be modifying the collection habits of M. fasciculata. At the intraspecific level, when we analyzed the productivity of A. mellifera, our results showed that honey production did not have a significant increase in the two studied situations (densification / non densification), but the averages in December were well above those of September. The pollen collections in both situations showed that A. mellifera did not increase the collection. Although our results do not show that mass creation of A. mellifera interferes with its own productivity, there is a need for continuous studies, since previous studies have already observed this interference. It is necessary pollen analysis in honey and pollen collected by this species so that it can be measured if high densities of the species interfere in the productivity of the colonies and consequently in the quality of their development.