No Evidence of Habitat Loss Affecting the Orchid Bees Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier and Eufriesea auriceps Friese (Apidae: Euglossini) in the Brazilian Cerrado Savanna

Habitat loss, landscape fragmentation, and agriculture intensification constitute the main threats to bees. As the organisms responsible for almost one third of the food produced worldwide, there are growing concerns on bees’ response to human-related disturbances. Among all bee groups, orchid bees...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neotropical entomology 2014-12, Vol.43 (6), p.509-518
Main Authors: Silva, D P, De Marco, P, Jr
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animals
Apidae
Bees
Behavior and Bionomics
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Brazil
cerrado
Ecology
Ecosystem
ecosystems
Entomology
Environmental Monitoring
Euglossini
Eulaema
Eulaema nigrita
Food
Grassland
habitat destruction
habitats
landscapes
Life Sciences
Orchidaceae
Population Dynamics
probability
savannas
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Summary:Habitat loss, landscape fragmentation, and agriculture intensification constitute the main threats to bees. As the organisms responsible for almost one third of the food produced worldwide, there are growing concerns on bees’ response to human-related disturbances. Among all bee groups, orchid bees (Apidae: Euglossini) compose an interesting group to test landscape-related hypotheses. In here, we tested the effect of landscape features (amount of anthropic areas and isolation) on the probability of occurrence and the abundances of both Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier and Eufriesea auriceps Friese in the Cerrado savanna. In general, we did not observe any effect of landscape features on the probability of occurrence and abundances of both species in our sampling sites. Given their potential high dispersal abilities, these bee species may be less sensitive to fragmented landscapes or even positively affected by the increase of anthropic habitats. Since we sampled many E. nigrita specimens in highly preserved Cerrado savanna areas, we believe that at least for this biome, this species may not be a good indicator of landscape disturbance.
ISSN:1519-566X
1678-8052
DOI:10.1007/s13744-014-0244-7