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Influence of Abiotic Factors and Floral Resource Availability on Daily Foraging Activity of Bees

Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Factors on Bees

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Abstract

In this study, the daily and seasonal influences of abiotic factors and the amount of floral resources on the foraging frequency of bees were determined. The experiments were performed, during 12 consecutive months, in the main floral sources used by bees in a secondary forest fragment. The foraging frequency of each bee species on flowers of each plant was recorded for 20-min periods, every hour. To verify whether the foraging activity is influenced by abiotic factors, Pearson’s correlation analysis and linear regression tests were performed for the dominant bee species. Temperature and luminosity were the two main abiotic factors regulating foraging activities of bees. A positive correlation was found between the foraging frequency of most bees and these two variables. Conversely, the foraging activity was influenced neither by the relative humidity nor by the wind speed. The activity of each species depends on a combination of factors that include not only abiotic variables, but also the amount of floral resources available during the day, body size, and behavior of each visitor. After a certain period of the day, the scarcity of floral resources produced by most plants can stimulate the bees to forage in the flowers early in subsequent days, which may occur before the period in which the abiotic conditions are really favorable.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Daniela de Oliveira Dinato and Dr. Júlio Antonio Lombardi who identified the plant species and prepared exsiccates for deposit into the Herbarium of Rio Claro, and also to Dra. Silvia Regina de Menezes Pedro who identified the bee species.

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  1. Leandro P. Polatto, José Chaud-Netto & Valter V. Alves-Junior

    Present address: Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS), Unidade Universitária de Ivinhema, Ivinhema, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia do Instituto de Biociências de Rio Claro, Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

    Leandro P. Polatto & José Chaud-Netto

  2. Faculdade de Ciências Biológicas e Ambientais, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados (UFGD), Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Valter V. Alves-Junior

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Correspondence to Leandro P. Polatto.

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Polatto, L.P., Chaud-Netto, J. & Alves-Junior, V.V. Influence of Abiotic Factors and Floral Resource Availability on Daily Foraging Activity of Bees. J Insect Behav 27, 593–612 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-014-9452-6

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