The aim of this study was to investigate details on natural nesting sites as the high of the nests' entrance and relation of this and the Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)

FERNANDES, N. de S.

RIBEIRO, M. de F.

RODRIGUES, F.

English

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RELATION BETWEEN HIGH AT NEST ENTRANCE AND DIAMETEROF TREES WHICH SERVE AS NESTING SITES FOR MELIPONAMANDACAIA(APIDAE, MELIPONINI)Márcia de Fátima Ribeiro!"; Francimária Rodrígues-; Nayanny de Sousa Fernandes","Embrapa Semiárido, Setor de Entomologia, Petrolina, PE, Brasil; 2Universidade Federal Ruraldo Semiárido - UFERSA, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Animal, Mossoró, RN,Brasil.'Universidade Federal do Ceará - UFC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia, Fortaleza,CE, Brasil; *Embrapa Semiárido, BR 428, Km 152, zona rural, CP. 23, 56.302-970 Petrolina, PE,Brasil.marcia.ribeiro@embrapa.brStingless bees usually build their nests in cavities of trees, although there are other possible substrates.In the semiarid region ofPetrolina (PE) one ofthe most abundant stingless bee is Melipona mandacaia('mandaçaia') which prefers to nest in Commiphora leptophloeos ('umburana-de-cambão') trees. Theaim of this study was to investigate details on natural nesting sites as the high of the nests' entranceand relation of this and the Diameter at Breast Height (DBH). Seven localities around Petrolinawere investigated and georeferenced with a GPS, for nesting sites of M mandacaia in trees. Thetree species, which had a nest, was registered as well the high at nest entrance and the DBH. Therelation between these variables was detennined by a Speannan Correlation test. The results showedthat most of trees (77.7%) that contained M mandacaia nests were indeed C. leptophloeos. Thesecond tree most used by the bees was Spondias tuberosa ('umbuzeiro'), with 16.1%, and four otherspecies, as Prosopis juliflora ('algarobeira'), Schinopsis brasiliensis ('baraúna'), Hymenae courbaril('jatobá') and Myracrodruon urundeuva ('aroeira') represented 6.8%. The entrance of nests were inaverage at 1.42 ± 0.59m (N= 193 trees) and the DBH was 1.22 ± 0.60m (N= 193 trees). There was asignificant negative correlation between the high ofnest entrance and the DBH (rho= -0.25, P= 0,004,N= 193 trees). Thus, the entrance ofnests is inversely related to DBH because the diameter ofthe treeis probably related to the size ofthe cavity inside the tree. C. leptophloeos was the tree that presentedwide cavities and a large amount of them, and thus, is preferred by the bees. Therefore, the closerelationship between the bee and the nesting tree must be considered in future programs of stinglessbees' conservation as well the conservation of the Caatinga Bioma.Keywords: stingless bees, nesting sites, Melipona mandacaia, diameter oftrees.Financial support: EMBRAPA; PROBIO lI.-ANAIS DO xr ENCONTRO SOBRE ABELHAS. 20J5RIBEIRA.o PRETO, SP, BRASIL 343

Relation between high at nest entrance and diameter of trees which serve as nesting sites for Melipona mandacaia (Apidae, Meliponini).

http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/bitstream/doc/1027053/1/Marcia2.pdf

Relation between high at nest entrance and diameter of trees which serve as nesting sites for Melipona mandacaia (Apidae, Meliponini).

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