Macias-Macias, O.,
Chuc J., Ancona-Xiu, P., Cauich, O., Quezada-Euán J.J.G. 2009. Contribution of native bees and
Africanized honey bees (Hymenoptera:Apoidea) to Solanaceae crop pollination in
tropical México. J. Appl. Entomol. 133: 456–465.
Abstract
In
the tropics the contribution of bees as pollinators of important
economic indigenous crops remains largely undocumented. We studied the
diversity of bee species visiting indigenous tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) and habanero pepper (Capsicum chinense) in subtropical Yucatán, México. The contribution of two native bees, Exomalopsis (E) and Augochloropsis (AG) was compared with that of the introduced Africanized Apis mellífera (HB) for pollinating unvisited flowers in both crops. Apis mellífera
and stingless bees were dominant in habanero pepper but solitary bee
species were important visitors of tomato. In spite of both crops being
autogamic, there was a significant contribution of native bees for
pollination of both tomato and habanero pepper. The comparison of fruit
weight, number of seeds, and a pollination index based on the latter
showed that E and AG were more effective pollinators compared to HB in
both crops (ca. Spear’s index of ca. 0.7 vs. 0.35 respectively). In
tomato, a further evaluation of the contribution to pollination provided
by the three bee species was made using the rate of visits to flowers.
Although E and AG were the most efficient pollinators at single flower
visits in tomato, none of the three species (including HB) were able to
provide single visits to all flowers per unit time to the crop. Our
results underline the importance of maintaining diverse assemblages and
abundant populations of bee species that can synergically contribute to
the productivity of tomato and hot pepper in the Neotropics.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0418.2009.01399.x/abstract;jsessionid=D83BED13C370F2389350195E7849733D.f03t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false
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