Abundance and Flower Visits of Bees in a Cerrado of Bahia, Tropical Brazil

Abstract

Abundance, seasonal phenology and flower visits of eusocial bees were studied in Diamantina, a national park with cerrado vegetation in Bahia, tropical Brazil. About 700 bees were collected, mainly native stingless bees and the introduced Africanized honey bee. Sampling along a transect was most effective March through September during the dry season. The foraging worker bees were observed on flowers of over 60 angiosperm species of which a few were visited with high frequency. Foraging activity concentrated on flowering plants of the families Leguminosae and Asteraceae. The results are discussed under aspects of nutritional resource partitioning by bee communities in neotropical habitats and the specific composition of a cerrado apifauna.

Keywords:

• Eusocial bee community
• Apidae
• resource partitioning
• cerrado vegetation
• flower visits
• seasonal abundance
• Bahia
• Brazil