Influência da regeneração florestal na comunidade de abelhas da Mata Atlântica e Cerrado, Brasil

Abstract

Wild bees are among the most important pollinating agents for pollen dispersal and maintenance of flower communities, due in particular to their trophic needs and their offspring for their agility of flight, the speed with which they visit the flowers and the morphological structures that facilitate ecosystem services. Gene flow among a plant species population depends on the range of the pollinator, the region of occurrence of the plant species, and the morphological characteristics of the flower. These characteristics of the plant and pollinator favor the mutualistic relations responsible for the preservation and maintenance of forest systems. A growing number of studies indicate that bees and other pollinators are in global decline, and among the major anthropogenic disturbances that contribute to this are forest fragmentation, loss of floral diversity and adequate nesting sites, chemical compounds (sanitary products) present in floral resources, habitat degradation and climate change. In this perspective, the objective of this study was to understand the effects of forest recovery on the diversity, morphological and phylogenetic diversity of wild bees in a region of the Atlantic Forest in central-southern Brazil. The collection methodology used was the use of entomological networks for the active collection of wild bees and aromatic baits for passive collection of Euglossini. The sampling design was composed of collection sites distributed in mature and secondary forest fragments. The method of Euglossini phylogenetic analysis with mitochondrial DNA extractions by PCR was also used. In this study, 50 samples of Euglossa representing a total of 28,325 base pairs were sequenced. The results showed that the composition and diversity of wild bees do not differ between a continuum of mature and secondary forest, although environmental factors affect the distribution of bee communities in these environments. Forest recovery processes may favor bee communities, as long as these fragments are close to forest remnants. Genetic data have shown that genetic diversity varied for Euglossa annectans, to the extent that some specimens are not adequately grouped together. However, we conclude that the forest continuum may favor the reintegration of bee communities and changes in the DNA of the Euglossini population may be influenced by the loss of habitats.