Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Influence of climatic factors on the flight activity of the stingless bee Partamona orizabaensis and its competition behavior at food sources

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Comparative Physiology A Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Stingless bees have evolved several ways to share contested resources to ensure the coexistence between different species. Partamona orizabaensis quickly exploits food sources by fast and direct recruitment that does not rely on scent marks deposited on substrates. In this study we show that the flight activity of P. orizabaensis is influenced by weather conditions, with higher activity during periods of colder temperatures, higher relative humidity and even during rainfall. We showed that the outcome of aggression experiments between the non-aggressive species P. orizabaensis and its aggressive competitor Trigona fuscipennis is influenced by the number of bees that arrive early after food source discovery. Therefore, the increased activity during less favorable weather conditions and the fast recruitment of nestmates following the discovery of a food source, as observed for P. orizabaensis, may be adaptations that evolved to coexist even with more aggressive and dominant species of stingless bees, with which P. orizabaensis has to compete for resources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Balfour NJ, Gandy S, Ratnieks FLW (2015) Exploitative competition alters bee foraging and flower choice. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 69:1731–1738. doi:10.1007/s00265-015-1985-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barth FG, Hrncir M, Jarau S (2008) Signals and cues in the recruitment behavior of stingless bees (Meliponini). J Comp Physiol A 194:313–327. doi:10.1007/s00359-008-0321-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biesmeijer JC, Slaa EJ (2004) Information flow and organization of stingless bee foraging. Apidologie 35:143–157. doi:10.1051/apido:2004003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biesmeijer JC, Slaa EJ (2006) The structure of eusocial bee assemblages in Brazil. Apidologie 37:240–258. doi:10.1051/apido:2006014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biesmeijer JC, Richter JAP, Smeets MAJP, Sommeijer MJ (1999) Niche differentiation in nectar-collecting stingless bees: the influence of morphology, floral choice and interference competition. Ecol Entomol 24:380–388. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2311.1999.00220.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contrera FAL, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL, Nieh JC (2004) Temporal and climatological influences on flight activity in the stingless bee Trigona hyalinata (Apidae, Meliponini). Rev Tecnol Ambiente 10:35–43

    Google Scholar 

  • de Bruijn LLM, Sommeijer MJ (1997) Colony foraging in different species of stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponinae) and the regulation of individual nectar foraging. Insectes Soc 44:35–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickerson AK, Shankles PG, Madhavan NM, Hu DL (2012) Mosquitoes survive raindrop collisions by virtue of their low mass. PNAS 109:9822–9827. doi:10.1073/pnas.1205446109

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dworschak K, Blüthgen N (2010) Networks and dominance hierarchies: dies interspecific aggression explain flower partitioning among stingless bees? Ecol Entomol 35:216–225. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.2010.01174.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eltz T, Brühl CA, van der Kaars S, Chey VK, Linsenmair KE (2001) Pollen foraging and resource partitioning of stingless bees in relation to flowering dynamics in a Southeast Asian tropical rainforest. Insectes Soc 48:273–279. doi:10.1007/PL00001777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flaig I, Aguilar I, Schmitt T, Jarau S (2016) An unusual recruitment strategy in a mass recruiting stingless bee, Partamona orizabaensis. J Comp Physiol A. doi:10.1007/s00359-016-1111-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin JN, Silliman BR (2011) Resource partitioning and why it matters. Nat Educ Knowl 3:49

    Google Scholar 

  • Heard TA, Hendrikz JK (1993) Factors influencing flight activity of colonies of the stingless bee Trigona carbonaria (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Aust J Zool 41:343–353. doi:10.1071/ZO9930343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell SP, Johnson LK (1978) Comparative foraging behavior of six stingless bee species exploiting a standardized resource. Ecology 59:1123–1136. doi:10.2307/1938227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarau S, Hrncir M, Zucchi R, Barth FG (2000) Recruitment behavior in stingless bees, Melipona scutellaris and M. quadrifasciata. I. Foraging at food sources differing in direction and distance. Apidologie 31:81–91. doi:10.1051/apido:2000108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarau S, Hrncir M, Schmidt VM, Zucchi R, Barth FG (2003) Effectiveness of recruitment behavior in stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini). Insectes Soc 50:365–374. doi:10.1007/s00040-003-0684-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarau S, Morawetz L, Reichle C, Gruber MH, Huber W, Weissenhofer A (2009) Corbiculate bees of the Golfo Dulce region, Costa Rica. Verein zur Förderung der Tropenstation La Gamba, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson LK, Hubbell SP (1974) Aggression and competition among stingless bees: field studies. Ecology 55:120–127. doi:10.2307/1934624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson LK, Hubbell SP (1975) Contrasting foraging strategies and coexistence of two bee species on a single resource. Ecology 56:1398–1406. doi:10.2307/1934706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonhardt SD, Blüthgen N (2009) A sticky affair: resin collection by bornean stingless bees. Biotropica 41:730–736. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2009.00535.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonhardt SD, Heard TA, Wallace H (2014) Differences in the resource intake of two sympatric Australian stingless bee species. Apidologie 45:514–527. doi:10.1007/s13592-013-0266-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtenberg EM, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL, Nieh JC (2010) Behavioral suites mediate group-level foraging dynamics in communities of tropical stingless bees. Insectes Soc 57:105–113. doi:10.1007/s00040-009-0055-8

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Linsley EG (1958) The ecology of solitary bees. Hilgardia 27:543–599. doi:10.3733/hilg.v27n19p543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagamitsu T, Inoue T (1997) Aggressive foraging of social bees as a mechanism of floral resource partitioning in an Asian tropical forest. Oecologia 110:432–439. doi:10.1007/s004420050178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nieh JC, Kruizinga K, Barreto LS, Contrera FAL, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL (2005) Effect of group size on the aggression strategy of an extirpating stingless bee, Trigona spinipes. Insectes Soc 52:147–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedro SRM, Camargo JMF (2003) Meliponini neotropicais: o gênero Partamona Schwarz 1939 (Hymenoptera, Apoidae). Rev Bras Entomol 47(Suppl 1):1–117. doi:10.1590/S0085-56262003000500001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pereboom JJM, Biesmeijer JC (2003) Thermal constraints for stingless bee foragers: the importance of body size and coloration. Oecologia 137:42–50. doi:10.1007/s00442-003-1324-2

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pierrot LM, Schlindwein C (2003) Variation in daily flight activity and foraging patterns in colonies of uruçu—Melipona scutellaris Latreille (Apidae, Meliponini). Rev Bras Zool 20:565–571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramalho M (2004) Stingless bees and mass flowering trees in the canopy of Atlantic Forest: a tight relationship. Acta bot bras 18:37–47. doi:10.1590/S0102-33062004000100005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramalho M, Kleinert-Giovanni A, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL (1990) Important bee plants for stingless bees (Melipona and Trigonini) and Africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera) in neotropical habitats: a review. Apidologie 21:469–488. doi:10.1051/apido:19900508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen C (2008) Catalog of the Indo-Malayan/Australasian stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini). Zootaxa 1935:1–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Reichle C, Aguilar I, Ayasse M, Twele R, Francke W, Jarau S (2013) Learnt information in species-specific “trail-pheromone” communication in stingless bees. Anim Behav 85:225–232. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.10.029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roubik DW (1989) Ecology and natural history of tropical bees. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shackleton K, Touafailia H, Balfour NJ, Nascimiento FS, Alves DA, Ratnieks FLW (2014) Appetite for self-destruction: suicidal biting as a nest defense strategy in Trigona stingless bees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 69:273–281. doi:10.1007/s00265-014-1840-6

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Slaa EJ, Wassenberg J, Biesmeijer JC (2003) The use of field-based social information in eusocial foragers: local enhancement among nestmates and heterospecifics in stingless bees. Ecol Entomol 28:369–379. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2311.2003.00512.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Andrea Wirmer for her help with the statistical analyses and Michael Hrncir and two anonymous reviewers for valuable suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. We want to thank the staff of the Tropenstation La Gamba for their technical support, Javier Guevara Sequeira from MINAE Costa Rica for the research permit. The study was supported by a PROMOS grant from the DAAD to E.M.K.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Helmholtzstr. 10/1, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Eva M. Keppner

  2. Institute for Neurobiology, Ulm University, Helmholtzstr. 10/1, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Stefan Jarau

Authors
  1. Eva M. Keppner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stefan Jarau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eva M. Keppner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Keppner, E.M., Jarau, S. Influence of climatic factors on the flight activity of the stingless bee Partamona orizabaensis and its competition behavior at food sources. J Comp Physiol A 202, 691–699 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1112-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1112-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation