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Differences in the resource intake of two sympatric Australian stingless bee species

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Abstract

Tetragonula carbonaria and Austroplebeia australis are two species of eusocial stingless bees with phylogeographically different origins that can occur sympatrically on the Australian east coast. We studied their foraging activity and resource intake and found pronounced differences between species. Tetragonula carbonaria showed consistently higher flight activity (resulting in a higher sugar intake per minute) and thus likely collected more resin and more pollen from a broader plant spectrum than A. australis. In contrast, the smaller A. australis colonies tended to collect a narrower resource spectrum and focused on high-quality resources (i.e., nectar of significantly higher sugar concentrations). Tetragonula carbonaria colonies also gained more weight over the study period than A. australis colonies, but colony growth may nevertheless be similar between the two species, albeit resulting from differences in resource allocation and exploitation as well as worker lifespan. Given their overlapping geographic ranges, T. carbonaria and A. australis may have evolved different patterns with regard to the use of resources to avoid exploitative competition between species or due to constraints imposed by their different phylogeographic origins.

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Acknowledgments

We thank three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on former versions of this manuscript, as well as Henrik v. Wehrden and Lucas Garibaldi for their statistical support. Funding was provided by the Deutsche Forschungs-Gemeinschaft (DFG project: LE 2750/1-1) and by the Queensland Government NIRAP Smart Forests Alliance Queensland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Sara D. Leonhardt

  2. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, GPO Box 2583, Brisbane, 4001, Australia

    Tim A. Heard

  3. Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, 4558, Australia

    Helen Wallace

Authors
  1. Sara D. Leonhardt
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  2. Tim A. Heard
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  3. Helen Wallace
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Correspondence to Sara D. Leonhardt.

Additional information

Stratégies d’approvisionnement différentes chez deux espèces australiennes sympatriques d’abeilles sans aiguillon

Apidae/Meliponini / approvisionnement/ressources végétales / Australie

Unterschiede im Ressourceneintrag zwischen zwei in Australien sympatrisch vorkommenden Stachellose Bienenarten

Apidae/Meliponini / Nahrungssuche / Pflanzenressourcen

Manuscript editor: James Nieh

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Leonhardt, S.D., Heard, T.A. & Wallace, H. Differences in the resource intake of two sympatric Australian stingless bee species. Apidologie 45, 514–527 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-013-0266-x

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