Southeast Asian Meliponiculture for Sustainable Livelihood

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are one of the most important pollinators of native plants and economic crops in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. They not only establish large perennial colonies with complex social organization but also have a diverse nesting biology. The economic utilization of a total of 60 stingless bee species in Asia has been reported. The current status of meliponiculture in Southeast Asia is mainly focused on pollination utilization and honey and propolis production. This chapter shows that small-scale beekeeping of stingless bees, which is suitable for the flowering pattern in the tropics, is one of the best potential alternative opportunities. The cost-effectiveness analysis based on production yield, investment cost, and profit-return rate is reviewed. Finally, a sustainable utilization of stingless bees is considered to be an enhancer of pollination services both in an agricultural crop and natural ecosystem

Pollination efficacy of stingless bees, Tetragonula pagdeni Schwarz (Apidae: Meliponini), on greenhouse tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus)

The stingless bee Tetragonula pagdeni is distributed over a vast Southeast Asian territory. This species is commonly used as a commercial insect pollinator. Pollination efficacy of T. pagdeni was investigated with tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cultivated in greenhouse environments. In the first experiment, the number of fruit sets, number of seeds, fresh weight, and fruit height were quantified in the greenhouse with stingless bees, without stingless bees, and with pollination by mechanical vibration by hand. In the second experiment, the treatments were conducted with tomatoes of indeterminate growth in the greenhouse with and without stingless bees to prevent variation among the different tomato plants. The obtained results showed that a greenhouse with stingless bees presented 85 ± 4.24 fruits per 100 flowers, more than a greenhouse with mechanical vibration (79.5 ± 2.12 fruits per 100 flowers) or a greenhouse without stingless bees (15 ± 0.00 fruits per 100 flowers). In addition, fruit produced in a greenhouse with stingless bees showed greater fruit weight and number of seeds than fruit produced in a greenhouse without stingless bees or pollinated by mechanical vibration. According to the obtained results, we suggest that T. pagdeni could be beneficial as an insect pollinator of greenhouse tomatoes in tropical regions, where the use of honeybees and bumblebees would be more difficult

Genetic Diversity of Apis spp. in Thailand Inferred from 28S rRNA Nuclear and Cytochrome b Mitochondrial Gene Sequences

Knowledge of the genetic diversity of Apis spp. is important in order to provide a better understanding of breeding strategies that relate to the conservation of wild species and colony survival of farmed species. Here, honeybees of five Apis species were collected from 12 provinces throughout Thailand. After DNA extraction, 28S rRNA nuclear (710 bp) and cytochrome b (cytb) mitochondrial (520 bp) gene fragments were sequenced. Homologous sequences (nucleotide identity of over 95%) were obtained from GeneBank using the BLASTn algorithm, aligned, and analysed by maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference phylogenetics. For 28S rRNA, a low genetic variation was detected within species (haplotype diversity ranging from 0.212 to 0.394), while 19 polymorphic sites were detected between species. Although the relative haplotype diversity was high, a low nucleotide divergence was found (0.7%), with migratory species. For cytb, the sequence divergence ranged from 0.24 to 3.88% within species and 7.35 to 13.07% between species. The divergence of cytb was higher than that of 28S rRNA. A. cerana showed two distinct clades between Southern Thailand and the other regions. Groups of A. cerana (Asian cavity-nesting), A. mellifera (European cavity-nesting), A. dorsata (giant open-nesting), and A. florea and A. andreniformis (dwarf bees) were defined in the 28S rRNA and cytb tree topologies

Consensus building in giant Asian honeybee, Apis dorsata, swarms on the move

Many animals move in groups, but the mechanisms by which a group of animals form a consensus about where to move are not well understood. In honeybees group movement generally falls into two behavioural categories: reproductive swarming and colony migration. In both contexts the bees use the dance language to decide on a location to move to. During reproductive swarming bees choose between and dance for multiple discrete locations before departing towards one of them. In contrast, during migration bees select a single direction in which to fly, but information with respect to distance is highly variable. In this study we show that swarms of the giant Asian honeybee, Apis dorsata, when placed in a novel environment rapidly reach a general consensus on a single patch within the environment in a fashion similar to relocating swarms of the red dwarf honeybee, Apis florea. In the three swarms used in this study the patches for which bees danced prior to the swarm departing corresponded to a stand of trees. One of our swarms showed a dance pattern consistent with long-distance migration: dances during the final 15 min preceding swarm departure indicated a wide range of distances but a uniform direction. Unlike previous descriptions of migrating swarm behaviour, the direction indicated by dances on this swarm changed throughout the decision-making process. Our other two swarms landed within the canopy of the trees in the patches for which they danced in the last 15 min and then presumably searched the surrounding area for a specific location in which to construct their new comb

How does a swarm of the giant Asian honeybee Apis dorsata reach consensus? : a study of the individual behaviour of scout bees

The last few years have seen a renewed interest in the mechanisms behind nest-site selection in honeybees. Most studies have focused on the cavity-nesting honeybee Apis mellifera, but more recently studies have included the open-nesting A. florea. Amongst species comparisons are important if we want to understand how the process has been adapted over evolutionary time to suit the particular species’ nest-site requirement. Here, we describe the behaviour of scout bees of the giant Asian honeybee A. dorsata on three artificially created swarms to determine the mechanisms used to collectively decide on a location to move to, either in the same environment (nest-site selection) or somewhere further afield (migration). In all swarms, scouts’ dances converged on a general direction prior to lift-off and this direction corresponded to the direction that swarms flew. Scouts from one swarm danced for sites that were far away. These dances did not converge onto a specific distance, implying they were migration dances. Dances for different sites differed in the number of circuits per dance suggesting that A. dorsata scouts make an assessment of site quality. Similarly to A. florea, but in contrast to A. mellifera, A. dorsata scouts did not reduce dance duration after repeated returns from scouting flights. We found that many scouts that dance for a non-preferred location changed dance location during the decision-making process after following dances for the consensus direction. We conclude that the consensus building process of A. dorsata swarms relies on the interaction of scout bees on the swarm

Consensus building in giant Asian honeybee, Apis dorsata, swarms on the move

Many animals move in groups, but the mechanisms by which a group of animals form a consensus about where to move are not well understood. In honeybees group movement generally falls into two behavioural categories: reproductive swarming and colony migration. In both contexts the bees use the dance language to decide on a location to move to. During reproductive swarming bees choose between and dance for multiple discrete locations before departing towards one of them. In contrast, during migration bees select a single direction in which to fly, but information with respect to distance is highly variable. In this study we show that swarms of the giant Asian honeybee, 'Apis dorsata', when placed in a novel environment rapidly reach a general consensus on a single patch within the environment in a fashion similar to relocating swarms of the red dwarf honeybee, 'Apis florea'. In the three swarms used in this study the patches for which bees danced prior to the swarm departing corresponded to a stand of trees. One of our swarms showed a dance pattern consistent with long-distance migration: dances during the final 15 min preceding swarm departure indicated a wide range of distances but a uniform direction. Unlike previous descriptions of migrating swarm behaviour, the direction indicated by dances on this swarm changed throughout the decision-making process. Our other two swarms landed within the canopy of the trees in the patches for which they danced in the last 15 min and then presumably searched the surrounding area for a specific location in which to construct their new comb