ABSTRACT

The flowers of Humiria balsamifera var. floribunda were monitored for 1 year in an area of restinga on the Brazilian coast to describe the richness of visiting bees, temporal distribution of visits, and how they transport its pollen in the community. The plant showed continuous flowering and bees were seen foraging nectar throughout the year. A total of 1,231 individuals belonging to 17 bee species were collected. The highest frequencies belonged to social species (Melipona subnitida, Apis mellifera, Melipona fasciculata) and Xylocopa cearensis. In general, bee visits were positively correlated to increased flowering intensity of the plant. The most frequent species increased their visitation frequency throughout the day, which may be related to optimal foraging decisions. Twenty-two pollen types were identified on the bee bodies. Social bees presented the highest loads of monofloral H. balsamifera pollen, which contributed to greater cross pollination success of this plant. The network structure was nested, which demonstrates the plant’s potential to stabilize the pollination system. Thus, as a generalist plant, H. balsamifera helps maintain bees in the restinga, which is currently an environment severely threatened by anthropic actions.

摘要

Humiria balsamifera变种的花。在巴西海岸的 restinga 地区对floribunda进行了为期 1 年的监测，以描述来访蜜蜂的丰富程度、访问的时间分布以及它们如何在社区中传输花粉。该植物显示连续开花，全年都可以看到蜜蜂觅食花蜜。共收集到属于 17 种蜜蜂的 1,231 只个体。频率最高的属于群居物种（Melipona subnitida、Apis mellifera、Melipona fasciculata）和Xylocopa cearensis. 一般来说，蜜蜂访问与植物开花强度的增加呈正相关。最频繁的物种全天增加了访问频率，这可能与最佳觅食决策有关。在蜜蜂身上发现了 22 种花粉类型。社会蜜蜂提供了最高负荷的单花H. balsamifera花粉，这有助于该植物获得更大的异花授粉成功率。网络结构是嵌套的，这表明植物具有稳定授粉系统的潜力。因此，作为一种多面手植物，H. balsamifera有助于将蜜蜂维持在 restinga 中，而 restinga 目前是一个受到人类活动严重威胁的环境。