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Performance, Effectiveness, and Efficiency of Honeybees as Pollinators of Coffea arabica (Gentianales, Rubiaceae)

  • Insect Pollinators
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Abstract

Studies in crop plants analyzing floral biology in conjunction with effectiveness and efficiency of pollinators on pollen transfer and fruit formation are not common, although they are essential to provide better management actions. On this base, we selected a farm in Bahia, Brazil, to study pollination on coffee plants (Coffea arabica L.). Specifically, we want to analyze if nectar traits influence visitor’s performance throughout flower lifetime and if honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier, 1836) are effective and efficient for coffee pollination comparing fertilization and fructification among four experimental treatments: open (OP), wind (WP), cross (HCP), and single-visit bee pollination (SVBP). We found that honeybees collect both nectar and pollen from coffee flowers and transfer pollen on stigmas even after one visit. No differences were found among treatments regarding the number of pollen grains transferred on the stigmas (effectiveness). OP flowers showed a comparative lower efficiency (pollen tubes and fruit set) probably due to pollination failure as those flowers have a higher variability on the number of deposited pollen grains. Two of the treatments (HCP and SVBP) showed higher fertilization (measuring tubes until the end of the style). Pollen loads seem to be limited by a peak of pollen transference by pollinators, followed by the stabilization in the number of pollen grains deposited per stigma. Thus, reproduction of the coffee can be limited by the quality of pollen grains moved by pollinators instead of quantity. Management strategies should focus on monitoring bee density on plants for increasing pollen quality transfer on flowers trough maintaining the adequate proportions of seminatural habitats and/or the number of hives on agricultural fields according to the flowering of the crop.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank two anonymous reviewers and editors for useful comments and suggestions, and Dr. A Campbell for his English revision and valuable comments in order to improve this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) through the following projects: codes INCT IN-TREE (465767/2014-1) and PVE – Science Without Borders (407152/2013-0); JH, DN, and CAC thank for their Capes and CNPq scholarships; BFV thanks CNPq for the grant (PQ code: 305470/2013-2) and LG thanks CONICET, SECyT (UNC), and FONCyT for financial support. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Estudos Inter e Transdisciplinares em Ecologia e Evolução – INCT IN-TREE, Bahia, Brasil

    J Hipólito & T Mahlmann

  2. Coordenação de biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, CEP: 69.067-375, Brasil

    J Hipólito, D O Nunes, C Angel-Coca & B F Viana

  3. Instituto de Biologia, Univ Federal da Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

    D O Nunes, C Angel-Coca & B F Viana

  4. Facultad de CEFyN, Univ Nacional de Córdoba and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina

    L Galetto

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Contributions

JH, DN, CAC contributed the same in the field, laboratory. JH, DN, CAC, and TM conceived, performed, and designed the experiments. BFV supervised the project since its original idea. JH analyzed the data. LG contributed to nectar reagent analysis. JH, DN, CAC, and LG took the lead in writing the manuscript. All authors contributed substantially to paper writing and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to J Hipólito.

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Hipólito, J., Nunes, D.O., Angel-Coca, C. et al. Performance, Effectiveness, and Efficiency of Honeybees as Pollinators of Coffea arabica (Gentianales, Rubiaceae). Neotrop Entomol 49, 501–510 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-020-00785-8

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