Abstract
Vibrating bees are the main pollinators of the tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Knowledge of other alternative food resources for these bees is fundamental for pollinator management actions in agricultural areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the plants used as food resources for the main pollinators Bombus morio (Swederus) and Exomalopsis analis Spinola in plantation areas. The study was conducted in 12 plantation areas in São José de Ubá, southeastern Brazil, during the flowering period of S. lycopersicum. The pollen material contained on the hind legs of 40 B. morio females and 72 E. analis females was analyzed and compared with the reference slides made from 155 flowering plant species (35 botanical families) sampled close to the plantations. The pollen material was submitted to acetolysis and mounted in glycerin gelatin and analyzed under optical microscope. From B.morio corbiculae were identified 188 pollen types (52 identified from reference slides) and 189 types from E. analis scopae (54 in reference slides). Besides tomato pollen, other most abundant types belong to Fabaceae (8%) in B. morio samples, and Hyptis and Solanum sp in E. analis samples. The trophic niche overlap was close to zero when the tomato pollen was disregarded, indicating that both pollinators use distinct sources. The results confirm the generalist character of tomato pollinators; in addition, the use of floral resources from several other plants, even at tomato flowering peak, emphasizes the importance of maintaining flowering plant composition around agricultural areas.
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Acknowledgments
To the farmers for authorizing the study in the areas; LCA-UENF and EMATER-RIO for logistical support; Rural Rio / SEAPPA, MCT/CNPq/CT-Agro24/2009, FAO/GEF/FUNBIO and FAPERJ for financial support. We also thank CAPES (scholarship to APH), ProPPG/UENF (scholarship to MSD), CNPq (PQ-2 Grants to MCG and VGE), and FAPERJ (CNE Grant to MCG). Dra. Karla Maria Pedra de Abreu (IFES-ES), MSc. Diego Lacerda de Souza (UENF-RJ), and MSc. Keltony de Aquino Ferreira (UENF-RJ) are thanked for the help in different stages of making the map. Dra. Ana Paula Madeira Di Beneditto (UENF-RJ) is thanked for suggestions in a previous version of this work. This work was conducted with the support of the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Código de Financiamento 001.
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Gaglianone MC performed the study conception and design. Deprá MS contributed to the data collection in the field and the network analysis. Hautequestt AP contributed to the material preparation and data collection in the laboratory. Gonçalves-Esteves V and Mendonça CBF contributed to identifying the pollen grains. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Hautequestt AP and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Hautequestt, A.P., Deprá, M.S., Gonçalves-Esteves, V. et al. Pollen Load Spectrum of Tomato Pollinators. Neotrop Entomol 49, 491–500 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-020-00786-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-020-00786-7