Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T13:32:30.371Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sporadic food competition with the African honey bee: projected impact on neotropical social bees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

David W. Roubik ,
J. Enrique Moreno ,
Carlos Vergara  and
Dieter Wittmann
David W. Roubik
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, APDO 2072 Balboa, Panamá and APO Miami 34002, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bee colonies in lowland forest in Panama were monitored for pollen and nectar harvest, pollen species utilization and nectar quality and quantity per returning forager. Despite sharing most pollen resources and nectar of the same quality with 20 introduced colonies of the African honey bee (Apis mellifera), native stingless bees of 12 species were largely unaffected by its activity. Pollen and nectar harvested by the honey bees were 10–200 times that procured by 17 stingless bee colonies. This discrepancy in total harvest and general lack of competitive effect is explained by a honey bee foraging area over 10 times that of the native bees, and apparent foraging shifts to escape competition with honey bees, thus reduced potential overlap in foraging sites.

Seven cases of direct resource competition for pollen or nectar were documented, out of 31 tests. Rare periods of intensive harvest were diminished by competing African honey bees. Such harvest peaks lasted for only a few hours in 13 days of observation. Despite average duration of 4% foraging time for each species, peaks included as much as 51% total harvest. Calculations based upon colony populations, food stores and flight range show that if African honey bees persist at a density of 1 colony per km2, colonies of some stingless bee species may disappear after 10 years. Their chances of escaping food competition by taxonomic specialization on flowers seem slight.

Keywords

African honey beeApiscompetitionforagingMeliponanectarPanamapollenTrigona
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , May 1986 , pp. 97 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Boreham, M. & Roubik, D. W. in press. Population change and control of African honey bees in the Panama Canal area. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America.Google Scholar
Croat, T. C. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.Google Scholar
Erdtman, G. 1969. Palynology. Pp. 149–208 in Preston, R. D. (ed.). Advances in botanical research. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Fowler, H. G. 1979. Responses by a stingless bee to a subtropical environment. Revista de Biologiá Tropical 27:111–118.Google Scholar
Fretwell, S. D. & Lucas, H. L. 1970. On territorial behavior and other factors influencing habitat distribution in birds. I. Theoretical development. Acta Biotheoretica 19:16–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, W. M. 1973. Foraging behavior of Trigona fulviventris in Costa Rica. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 49:21–25.Google Scholar
Gould, J. L, Dyer, F. C. & Towne, W. F. 1985. Recent progress in the study of the dance language. Pp. 141–161 in Hölldobler, B. & Lindauer, M. (eds). Experimental behavioral ecology and sociobiology. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Hubbell, S. P. & Johnson, L K. 1977. Competition and nest spacing in a tropical stingless bee community. Ecology 58:949–963.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbell, S. P. & Johnson, L K. 1978. Comparative foraging behavior of six stingless bee species exploiting a standardized resource. Ecology 59:1123–1136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, T., Salmah, S. & Yusuf, E. 1985. Foraging behavior of individual workers and foraging dynamics of colonies of three Sumatran stingless bees. Pp. 44–49 in Evolutionary ecology of insects in humid tropics, especially in central Sumatra. Sumatra Nature Study (Entomology), Kanazawa University, Japan.Google Scholar
Johnson, L. K. & Hubbell, S. P. 1975. Contrasting foraging strategies and coexistence of two bee species on a single resource. Ecology 56:1398–1406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, M. D. & Loper, G. M. 1984. Factors affecting pollen trap efficiency. American Bee Journal 124:721–723.Google Scholar
McLellan, A. R. 1978. Growth and decline of honeybee colonies and inter-relationships of adult bees, brood, honey and pollen. Journal of Applied Ecology 15:155–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michener, C. D. 1954. Bees of Panamá. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 104:1–176.Google Scholar
Michener, C. D. 1974. Social behavior of the bees. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Michener, C. D. 1975. The Brazilian bee problem. Annual Review of Entomology 20:399–416.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rand, A. S. & Rand, W. M. 1982. Variation in rainfall on Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 47–60 in Leigh, E. G., Rand, A. S. & M., Windsor D. (eds). The ecology of a tropical forest: seasonal rhythms and long-term changes. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1978. Competitive interactions between Africanized honey bees and neotropical pollinators. Science 201:1030–1032.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roubik, D. W. 1979. Nest and colony characteristics of stingless bees from French Guiana (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 52:443–470.Google Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1980. Foraging behavior of competing Africanized honey bees and stingless bees. Ecology 61:836–845.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1981. Comparative foraging behavior of Apis mellifera and Trigona corvina (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on Baltimora recta (Compositae). Revista de Biologiá Tropical 29:177–184.Google Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1982a. The ecological impact of nectar-robbing bees and pollinating hummingbirds on a tropical shrub. Ecology 63:354–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1982b. Obligate necrophagy in a social bee. Science 217:1059–1060.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1982c. Seasonality in colony food storage, brood production and adult survivorship: studies of Melipona in tropical forest (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 55:789–800.Google Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1983a. Experimental community studies: time-series tests of competition between African and neo-tropical bees. Ecology 64:971–978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roubik, D. W. 1983b. Nest and colony characteristics of stingless bees from Panamá. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 56:237–255.Google Scholar
Roubik, D. W. & Aluja, M. 1983. Flight ranges of Melipona and Trigona in tropical forest (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 56:217–222.Google Scholar
Roubik, D. W. & Buchmann, S. L. 1984. Nectar selection by Melipona and Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and the ecology of nectar intake by bee colonies in a tropical forest. Oecologia 61:1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roubik, D. W., Schmalzel, R. J. & Moreno, J. E. 1984. Estudio apibotanico de Panamá: cosecha y fuentes de polen y nectar usados por Apis mellifera y sus patrones estacionales y anuales. Boletin Técnico No. 24; Organismo International Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria Mexico, Centro America y Panama. 73 pp.Google Scholar
Seeley, T. D. 1985. The information-center strategy of honey bee foraging. Pp. 75–90 in Hölldobler, B. & Lindauer, M. (eds). Experimental behavioral ecology and sociobiology. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Smith, M. V. & Adie, A. 1963. A new design in pollen traps. Canadian Bee Journal 74:4, 5, 8.Google Scholar
Stanley, R. G. & Linskens, H. F. 1974. Pollen: biology, biochemistry, management. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolda, H. & Roubik, D. W. 1986. Nocturnal bee abundance and seasonal bee activity in a Panamanian forest. Ecology 67:426–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar