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ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to investigate the flight range and foraging behavior of the stingless bee Plebeia aff. flavocincta, as well as testing its attraction to different sugar syrup concentrations within different distances to the colony. Foraging pattern along the day, preference of bees for sugar concentration in nectar and their relationship with distance from the colony were assessed by the means of manipulating those parameters with artificial flowers containing different sugar syrup concentrations and displayed at varying distances. The bees P. aff. flavocincta foraged from 6 a. m. to 5:30 p. m., with a foraging peak from 9 a. m. to 11:30 a. m. and showed preference for higher syrup concentrations (60% and 70%) though have foraged indiscriminately in all tested sugar concentrations and varying distances. We have concluded that due to its small body size, this species needs higher temperatures to forage when compared to large-body species, and shows preference for more concentrated sugar sources, but also explores the food source with lower sugar concentrations within their flight range. Such strategy may help to understand how a small-sized and short-flight bee such as P. aff. flavocincta achieved a vast geographic distribution in the country and is well succeeded in colonizing highly anthropized areas where natural sources of nectar are usually scarce within short distances.

Bee flight capacity determines the area that a colony can exploit, and this knowledge is essential to formulate management and conservation strategies for each species. In this study, we evaluated the flight capacity of Melipona seminigra using radio frequency identification (RFID). Three questions were addressed: Do the RFID tags affect the flight of M. seminigra workers? What is the effect of the landscape on foraging activity? Does the time since the colony was re-established affect the flight range of foragers? Our results indicate that the RFID tag used does not affect the flight ability of M. seminigra. Bees marked with nontoxic paint vs. RFID tags had the same return ratio and return time to the colony of origin. Flight capacity was affected by the landscape, because the return rate to the colonies was higher from the tested vegetated area than from the sterile area. The time elapsed since the bee colony re-establishment also affected the flight range because the return rate increased with time since the colony was relocated in the new site. We estimate that M. seminigra workers make foraging flights of approximately 1000 m from the colony and that the maximum flight range is 5000 m. Colonies of this species take more than 1 or 2 months to be able to fully exploit a landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining bee flight capacity is crucial for developing management strategies for bee conservation and/or crop pollination and purposes. In this study, we determined the flight distance of the stingless bee Melipona fasciculata using the radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology. For this, we conducted two translocation experiments using workers equipped with RFID microsensors: (1) release of bees at seven distances between 100 and 3000 m from experimental colonies in Belém, Brazil, and (2) at six distances between 1500 and 10,000 m at Carajás National Forest Reserve. Return rates of workers were negatively correlated to release distance, with typical flight distances of 2 km, but a maximum homing distance of 10 km. Use of RFID tags revealed how past experiments may have greatly underestimated homing abilities of stingless bees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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