Families, genera and their abundances of pollen grains identified by province.

Families, genera and their abundances of pollen grains identified by province.</p

Morphometric geometry methodology.

A) Selected anatomical points for pollen from family Melastomataceae, genus Miconia; B) Selected anatomical points for pollen from family Asteraceae, genus Bidens. In the figures above each red point represent the specific position (coordinates) of one landmark or anatomical point, that surrounding the area which were used as potential indicator of species differentiation for pollen grains that belongs to the same family and genus.</p

Geographical location and number of the sampling zones.

Geographical location and number of the sampling zones.</p

Botanical families review chart.

Plant families features used as pollen and nectar resources by stingless bees [41–91, 126]. (DOCX)</p

Indexes explaining chart.

Comparison between the diversity, dominance and similarity indices in each study area. (DOCX)</p

Geographical location of the study areas, in three provinces of Ecuador.

Layers were obtained from: http://www.efrainmaps.es. Carlos Efraín Porto Tapiquén. Geography, GIS and Digital Cartography. Valencia, Spain, 2020 for America layer, Instituto Geográfico Militar, 2008, Base nacional escala 1:1’00.000 for Ecuador layer.</p

Bee-plant interaction network.

A) Amazon region. B) Sierra South region.</p

Scanning electron microscopy methodology.

A) Area with homogeneous dispersion, 1 x 1mm. 200X; B) Counting quadrant 990X; C) Single photograph, magnification depending on pollen grain size (1.6–15 kx).</p

Morphological description, and their parameters, of pollen grains with the highest representation in the three study areas [43, 47, 52, 84, 86, 99, 100, 118–129].

(DOCX)</p

Technical nest of stingless bees in Ecuador.

A) The nest consists in three main zones. B) top floor is the way by meliponicultor can open the nest and managed the bees. C) The storage zone cover by batumen (material made from resins and mug) contains honey and pollen pots. D) The brood chamber where different “plates or discs” are stacked in a column. Note: a natural nest has the same structure but inside a tree log.</p