How landscape composition affects pollen collection by stingless bees?

Human disturbances are one of the main reasons for the recent deficit of pollinators, which can cause severe habitat loss, decreasing food availability and nesting resources for pollinators. However, few studies show how landscapes composition and configuration can impact the pollen foraging of bees. We aimed to evaluate how landscape structure and local characteristics can influence the pollen foraging patterns of the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides in agricultural landscapes of Chapada Diamantina, a region of the Bahia state in Brazil. Pollen samples were collected from fourteen M. quadrifasciata anthidioides colonies to evaluate how pollen collection varies according to different proportions of human land-use, landscape heterogeneity, plant richness and distance from crops. To explain the richness and diversity of pollen collected by bees, we used generalized linear models, and linear models, compared through the Akaike information criteria corrected for small samples (AICc). Pollen richness can be explained by the distance from crops, plant richness and human land-use proportion. Bees will collect pollen from more plant species when they are in a natural and diverse landscape. Pollinator friendly crop areas must be planned to be surrounded by diverse natural nearby environments, guaranteeing yearlong pollen resources available for bees’ maintenance.