Bee flight capacity determines the area that a colony can exploit, and this knowledge is essential to formulate management and conservation strategies for each species. In this study, we evaluated the flight capacity of Melipona seminigra using radio frequency identification (RFID). Three questions were addressed: Do the RFID tags affect the flight of M. seminigra workers? What is the effect of the landscape on foraging activity? Does the time since the colony was re-established affect the flight range of foragers? Our results indicate that the RFID tag used does not affect the flight ability of M. seminigra. Bees marked with nontoxic paint vs. RFID tags had the same return ratio and return time to the colony of origin. Flight capacity was affected by the landscape, because the return rate to the colonies was higher from the tested vegetated area than from the sterile area. The time elapsed since the bee colony re-establishment also affected the flight range because the return rate increased with time since the colony was relocated in the new site. We estimate that M. seminigra workers make foraging flights of approximately 1000 m from the colony and that the maximum flight range is 5000 m. Colonies of this species take more than 1 or 2 months to be able to fully exploit a landscape.

蜜蜂的飞行能力决定了一个殖民地可以利用的面积，而这一知识对于制定每个物种的管理和保护策略至关重要。在这项研究中，我们使用射频识别（RFID）评估了半裸Melipona nigra的飞行能力。解决了三个问题：RFID标签是否会影响半裸支原体工人的飞行？景观对觅食活动有何影响？自殖民地重建以来的时间是否会影响觅食者的飞行范围？我们的结果表明，使用的RFID标签不会影响半裸支原体的飞行能力。标有无毒涂料与RFID标签的蜜蜂具有相同的返还率和返还时间到原产地。飞行能力受地形的影响，因为从测试过的植被区到菌落的返回率要高于从无菌区到菌落的返回率。自从蜂群重新建立以来经过的时间也影响了飞行范围，因为自从蜂群重新安置到新地点以来返回率随时间增加。我们估计，半裸芒草工人从该殖民地进行约1000 m的觅食飞行，最大飞行范围为5000 m。该物种的殖民地需要超过1到2个月才能完全开发景观。