Phoon, A. C. G.

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

FOR Category F10800: Biological SciencesCONSERVATION OF STINGLESS BEES ANDSTUDIES ON THEIR BIOLOGY AND UTILISATIONAS POLLINATORS OF CROP PLANTSA.C.G. PhoonFaculty of Science and Environmental StudiesUniversiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor,MalaysiaKeywords: stingless bees, trigona, conservation, polli-nation.IntroductionThis study covered the rearing of Malayan stingless beesobtained from their forest habitat. As a means to conserva-tion, studies on their biology and potential as producers ofhoney and pollen as well as crop pollinators were studied onthose species, which can be domesticated.Materials and MethodsFeral colonies of trigona bees species are collected fromnearby forests and reared in various types of man madehives. Studies on their life cycle and social organisation andforaging habits were carried out with a view to mass-producing colonies for use as pollination agents of cropplants.Results and DiscussionOf the 29 species of Malayan trigona bees listed by Schwarz(1939), 16 species were collected so far. Five species havebeen successfully reared in man-made hives made of woodor aluminum. The process of colony multiplication was timeconsuming, where the small sized species require a build upperiod interval of 3 months while the larger sized speciestook at least 6 months. Successful colony production alsodepended on the presence of ripe queen cells and the avail-ability of drones to mate with the virgin queens. This is be-cause of the long pre-adult development period of the queenthat unlike that of stinging honeybees is longer than that ofthe worker bee.Trigonids are poor wax producers and they largely used plantresins for nest building. A mixture of wax and resin calledcerumen is used to build the nest. Some species used brittlecerumen to contruct the outer regions (involucrum) of thenest while the brood area is of soft pliable cerumen. Sincethe sticky nature of the nest entrance serves as defenseagainst intruders, these trigonid species tend to be more ag-gressive. Other species constructed the nest of soft pliablecerumen and these species tended to be less aggressive.Stingless bees defended themselves by biting and pulling ofhair of the intruder or by immobilising the intruder bysmearing it with sticky resin. Trigona canifrons workersmost aggressive and its bite is painful enough to keep humanbeings away. Less aggressive defence was used by the larg-est species T. thoracica whose workers use a threateningflight in front of the intruder to effectively drive it away.All species of trigonids have relatively small populationnumbers. These range from a few hundreds (T. melina, T.pendleburyi, T. terminata, T. ventralis) to a few thousands(T. throcica, T. itama, T. apicalis, T. canifrons, T. Juscobal-teata, T. pagdeni, T. erythrogastra, T. atripes, T. confusella).Trigona thoracica was reported to reach a population of100,000 bees (Schwarz, 1937) but colonies here varied from4-5 thousand workers. The laying capacity of the T. thorac-ica queen is approximately 80 eggs per day and because ofthe long development period of the pre-adult stage could notgive rise to large worker populations,All trigonids species produced small amounts of dilute honeyin comparison to the stinging bees, Apis spp. Besides thesmall worker populations, all the trigonids unlike Apis bees,did not use a communication system during foraging. It ap-pears that trigonids are well adapted to scarce nectar re-sources in the Malaysian tropical forests by foraging indi-vidually. The small amounts of dilute honey found in the tri-gonid hives reduce its economic value as a honey producer.However, honey from stingless bees usually fetches a higherprice because it is believed to have medicinal value.Despite small colony populations, Malaysian trigonids arevoracious pollen collectors. This characteristic renders themas good pollinators. Studies are being conducted to deter-mine their efficacy in pollinating specific crops which are es-sentially cloned material and may largely require cross polli-nation. For herbaceous crops such as the chili, Capsicumspp. trigonids are very good pollinators effecting almost 100-percentage success in preliminary studies.ConclusionsThis study shows that among the many species of stinglessbees collected so far, only 5 (31%) species can be 'domesti-cated'. The remaining species need to be protected withinprotected forests. Those species, which can be reared in manmade hives, can easily be proliferated. The advantage tokeeping stingless bees is that they are harmless to peoplewithin the neighbourhood. Although honey and pollen pro-duction by the bees are low they are ideal for hobbyists whocan obtain small quantities of the hive products as food sup-plements.ReferencesSchwarz, H.F. 1937. Results of the Oxford University Sarawak(Borneo) Expedition: Bornean stingless bees of the genus Tri-gona. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. History. p.281-328.Schwarz, H.F. 1939. The Indo-Malayan Species of Trigona. Bull.Amer. Mus Nat. History. 76: 83-141.Supported by IRPA Grant 09-02-04-0006235

Conservation of stingless bees and studies on their biology and utilisation as pollinators of crop plants

http://psasir.upm.edu.my/42738/1/Conservation%20of%20stingless%20bees%20and%20studies%20on%20their%20biology%20and%20utilisation%20as%20pollinators%20of%20crop%20plants.pdf

Conservation of stingless bees and studies on their biology and utilisation as pollinators of crop plants

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