Abelhas eussociais (Hymenoptera, Apidae) que ocorrem em jardins urbanos em Juiz de Fora, MG: recursos florais e atividade de voo

Abstract

The urbanization process modifies the environment, changing the nest foundation places and reducing the trophics resource spots. The objectives of this research were to estimate the eusoical bee’s richness and also the plants utilized by these bees in an anthropic environment. It was also checked the influence of temperature, humidity, luminosity and air speed during flight activity of Nannotrigona testaceicornis (Lepeletier, 1836) and Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille, 1811) in this environment. The bees assembly was verified, from 9am to 6pm, in three places in Juiz de Fora, during a period of one year. To evaluate the influence of the climate factors during flight activity were realized 12 observations in N. testaceicornis and 12 in T. angustula colonies, every month, during the months of October/2007 and September/2008. The temperature, air relative humidity, luminosity and air speed were registered every hour near the colony. In total were register 10.318 eusocial bees, belonging to eight different species; 7337 from the sub tribe Meliponina and 2981 from the sub tribe Apina. Approximately 90% of the plants utilized by the bees were exotic. Trigona spinipes (Fabricius, 1793) was the only species registered in all the study and the one that utilized the biggest number of plants. The bees’ fauna registered in public squares of Juiz de Fora presented few species, and half of these was considered constant. Although each square had their own characteristics, as the availability of floral resources, it was verified that the anthropic intervention, as, the pruning of the plants was a factor that influenced the number of individuals throughout the year. The biggest amplitude of flight activity was approximately eleven hours, although this value varied during the observation months. The biggest bees’ departures and returns flow was registered between 10:00am and 01:00pm. The majority of departures, about 60%, of workers of both species was influenced by temperature and luminosity. In such a way, the results found in the present study contribute to extend the knowledge of the activity of these bees in anthropical environment.