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Overlap in trophic and temporal niches in the flower-visiting bee guild (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) of a tropical dry forest

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Abstract

In tropical dry and hot forests, flower-visiting bees are able to forage only during the few hours a day with mild temperatures, but they may chose more freely among the plant species to be visited. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that the overlap in temporal niches should be higher than the overlap in trophic niches among these bees. Between pairs of species (Schoener index), the overlap in trophic niches varied from 0.007 to 0.745, whereas the temporal overlap varied from 0.062 to 0.865. In general, the trophic overlap was low, with 79 % of the species pairs scoring below 30 %, and the temporal overlap varied from moderate to high. At the community level, the observed overlap in trophic niches was higher than expected by chance, both for diet and foraging time. The network analysis confirmed at the community level that bees separate more strongly their trophic (E = 0.82) than their temporal niches (E = 0.50).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz (UEFS) who identified the plants. The Brazilian Research Council (CNPq) and the Research Foundation of Bahia (FAPESB) funded this project. CNPq granted research productivity fellowships to GMM Santos and CAL Carvalho. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation granted a postdoctoral fellowship (no. 1134644) to MAR Mello.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, 44036-900, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil

    Gilberto M. de M. Santos & Cândida M. L. Aguiar

  2. Núcleo de Estudo dos Insetos, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Ambientais e Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, 44380-000, Cruz das Almas, Bahia, Brazil

    Carlos A. L. de Carvalho

  3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brazil

    Leonardo S. S. R. Macêdo

  4. Institut für Experimentelle Ökologie, Universität Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89069, Ulm, Germany

    Marco A. R. Mello

Authors
  1. Gilberto M. de M. Santos
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  2. Carlos A. L. de Carvalho
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  3. Cândida M. L. Aguiar
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  4. Leonardo S. S. R. Macêdo
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  5. Marco A. R. Mello
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gilberto M. de M. Santos.

Additional information

Manuscipt Editor: Marina Meixner

Chevauchement des niches trophique et temporelle dans une guilde d’abeilles (Hymenoptera, Apoidea), visitant les fleurs d’une forêt sèche tropicale

Niche trophique/ niche temporelle/ Apoidea/ Caatinga/

Überlappung von trophischen und zeitlichen Nischen in der blütenbesuchenden Bienengilde (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) eines tropischen Trockenwalds

Trophische Nische/ zeitliche Nische/ Nischenüberlappung/ Bienengilde/Apoidea

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de M. Santos, G.M., de Carvalho, C.A.L., Aguiar, C.M.L. et al. Overlap in trophic and temporal niches in the flower-visiting bee guild (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) of a tropical dry forest. Apidologie 44, 64–74 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-012-0155-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-012-0155-8

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