In the Brazilian Tropical Dry Forest, the Caatinga, stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini) need to adjust their foraging behavior to a very short and unpredictable blooming period. Melipona subnitida Ducke 1910 is one of the few meliponine species adapted to the environmental peculiarities of this biome. To get an insight into how these highly eusocial bees are able to maintain their perennial colonies despite extended periods of food scarcity, we asked the following questions: (1) At which plant species do colonies of M. subnitida collect their food during the rainy season? And (2) are there any plant species during the dry season, from which the colonies may profit for replenishing their food stores? During 1 year, we collected monthly honey and pollen samples from recently built storage pots of five colonies of M. subnitida and identified the botanical origin of the collected resources. In the course of our study, the colonies foraged at native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species, demonstrating the importance of all plant strata for the bees’ diet. Profitable plants, which bloom mainly during the rainy season and usually produce a great number of flowers, were frequently sampled in new pots throughout the entire study, even during the dry season. From our results, we compiled a list of the most important plant species providing floral resources for bees throughout the year, including periods of drought. We recommend these plants for restoration areas to improve the conservation of native bee species and local beekeeping in the Brazilian Tropical Dry Forest.

中文翻译：

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无刺蜜蜂（Melipona subnitida）通过选择高利润食物来源来克服巴西热带干旱森林中的严重干旱事件。

在巴西热带干旱森林中，Caatinga的无刺蜜蜂（Apidae，Meliponini）需要将其觅食行为调整到非常短且无法预测的开花期。Sublipidus Menitona subnitida Ducke（1910）是为数不多的适应该生物群落环境特点的美来宁物种之一。为了深入了解这些高亲社会力的蜜蜂如何在长期缺乏食物的情况下保持其多年生菌落，我们提出了以下问题：（1）哪些植物物种在亚硝酸盐杆菌上产生菌落在雨季收集食物？（2）在干旱季节是否有任何植物物种，殖民地可以从中补充食物来赚钱？在1年的时间里，我们每月从最近建造的5个亚硝酸盐杆菌菌落的储存罐中收集蜂蜜和花粉样本。并确定了所收集资源的植物来源。在我们的研究过程中，菌落在本地树木，灌木和草本物种中觅食，这表明所有植物地层对于蜜蜂饮食的重要性。有利可图的植物主要在雨季开花，通常会产生大量的花朵，在整个研究中，甚至在干旱季节，也经常在新的花盆中取样它们。根据我们的结果，我们编制了一份清单，列出了全年（包括干旱时期）为蜜蜂提供花卉资源的最重要的植物物种。我们建议将这些植物用于恢复区域，以改善巴西热带干旱森林中本地蜜蜂物种的保护和本地养蜂。