Determining bee flight capacity is crucial for developing management strategies for bee conservation and/or crop pollination and purposes. In this study, we determined the flight distance of the stingless bee Melipona fasciculata using the radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology. For this, we conducted two translocation experiments using workers equipped with RFID microsensors: (1) release of bees at seven distances between 100 and 3000 m from experimental colonies in Belém, Brazil, and (2) at six distances between 1500 and 10,000 m at Carajás National Forest Reserve. Return rates of workers were negatively correlated to release distance, with typical flight distances of 2 km, but a maximum homing distance of 10 km. Use of RFID tags revealed how past experiments may have greatly underestimated homing abilities of stingless bees.

中文翻译：

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射频识别 (RFID) 揭示了无刺蜂 Melipona fasciculata 的长距离飞行和归巢能力

确定蜜蜂飞行能力对于制定蜜蜂保护和/或作物授粉和目的的管理策略至关重要。在这项研究中，我们使用射频识别 (RFID) 技术确定了无刺蜂 Melipona fasciculata 的飞行距离。为此，我们使用配备 RFID 微传感器的工人进行了两次易位实验：（1）从巴西贝伦的实验蜂群中 100 到 3000 m 之间的七个距离处释放蜜蜂，以及（2）在 1500 到 10,000 m 之间的六个距离处释放蜜蜂卡拉哈斯国家森林保护区。工人返程率与释放距离呈负相关，典型的飞行距离为 2 公里，但最大归位距离为 10 公里。RFID 标签的使用揭示了过去的实验可能大大低估了无刺蜜蜂的归巢能力。