Dominance of Capsicum minutiflorum (Solanaceae) pollen in stingless bee hives: An insight into protein composition and foraging behavior by four Meliponini species of the Bolivian-Tucumano forest

Abstract

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) primarily feed on nectar and pollen from a wide diversity of flowering plants. By doing so they pollinate these flowers thus contributing to biodiversity and ecosystem stability. The pollen they collect provides essential nutrients for brood rearing and colony growth. This study aimed to characterize the floral resources available to stingless bees in a Tucumano-Boliviano Forest, including their pollen protein content and, through construction of an interaction network and preference analysis, understand their foraging behavior. Only 8 out of 25 pollen types sampled within the study site around the meliponaries were collected by the bees. Pollen pots also contained many types of pollen not from to plant species in the study area. Pollen from Capsicum minutiflorum (Solanaceae) was dominant in almost every hive (up to 98.7% of pollen composition). Additionally, protein content of Capsicum minutiflorum pollen (67% w/w) was the highest of all species present at the study site and explained almost 100% of the protein content in the hives of Tetragonisca angustula , and Scaptotrigona depilis , and almost 80% and 75% of the protein content in those of Scaptotrigona polysticta and Melipona rufiventris , respectively. These results suggest that stingless bees preferentially collect pollen with higher protein content.