Species Richness and Diversity in Bee Assemblages in a Fragment of Savanna (Cerrado) at Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The conservation of the fauna of bees inhabiting the Brazilian savanna is threatened due to changes in land use in the last decades. We investigated the composition, species richness and abundance of a bee assemblage in the vicinity of the Chapada Diamantina National Park. In addition, we compiled data on composition and diversity from another bee assemblage located in the same portion of the Cerrado, which was previously investigated by one of us almost 30 years ago, in order to produce a more complete panorama on beta diversity of bees in this region. We used a non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination analysis (NMDS) to compare composition of bee assemblages from diff erent types of open vegetation. We recorded 77 bee species (H’ = 2.95; J = 0.68), 42% of them were singletons. We collected slightly more than half of the species and 60% of the genera recorded in the bee assemblage studied three decades ago. H’ was signifi cantly lower in our area than in the previous study (t = 8.588, p <0.001), but equitability (J) was very similar. Several factors may contribute to these diff erences, including local diff erences in bee assemblage composition, diff erences in the probability of capturing the diff erent species (many rare species), factors affecting the sampling itself, and perhaps species loss over the three decades separating the two studies. The magnitude of species loss is difficult to assess because the two studies were not carried out exactly in the same area and there were differences in sampling time and sampling effort.

Recover and They’ll Come: Flower Visiting Bees Benefit from the Continuous of Micro-Environments Set by Regenerating Forest Fragments

“…As old forests are being increasingly reduced to fragmented landscapes (Alaux et al, 2017;Boscolo et al, 2017;Jauker et al, 2019;Sobreiro et al, 2019), the expected effect is the decline of the diversity of plants and pollinators (Aguiar et al, 2018;Marques et al, 2018;Sobreiro et al, 2019). However, we can interpret here that occurrence of bees in different micro-environments is possibly facilitating the flow of pollen between plants at different sites, and this seems to mitigate the impacts of forest reduction on the responses of plant-flower visitors.…”

“…Studies indicate that flower visiting bees suffer negative effects of the habitat fragmentation (Schleuning et al, 2011;Aguiar et al, 2018;Jauker et al, 2019). However, our results seem to show that the natural regeneration in fragmented habitats can favor the floral visits and the reintegration of the bee community in these fragments.…”

Taxonomic revision of the oil-collecting bee subgenus Epicharis (Epicharitides) Moure, 1945 (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with the description of two new species

“…Mato Grosso: Chapada dos Guimarães (Gaglianone 2001), Cáceres*, Tangará da Serra*. Bahia: Parque Nacional Chapada Diamantina (Aguiar et al 2017b), Palmeiras (Aguiar et al 2017b(Aguiar et al , 2018, Rio de Contas*, Wenceslau Guimarães*. Goiás: Iporá*, Catalão (Sá et al 2016).…”