Distribuição potencial de Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides Lepeletier, 1836 (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Apidae) no Brasil e seu possível uso para incremento da produção de café

Abstract

The geographical distribution of Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides Lepeletier, 1836 is known, however, its potential distribution can be better understood. Pollinators are essential to agricultural production including coffee growing. However, there are no studies in the literature on the management of M. quadrifasciata anthidioides in coffee crops. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate: i) the potential distribution of M. quadrifasciata anthidioides in Brazil and overlap with the remnants of the Atlantic Forest at the regional level (chapter 1); ii) the possible use of M. quadrifasciata anthidioides in the pollination of the coffee flower and its effects on coffee production (chapter 2). For that, in chapter 1, data of occurrence of the species of databases in the MaxEnt model with environmental variables were used, in order to create a map of potential distribution, and later another map with the regional distribution superimposed on the remnants of the Atlantic Forest a regional level. The model obtained an excellent classification (AUC = 0.963). The results indicated that Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides prefers areas with more regular temperatures, but with higher altitudes and more humid places. In chapter 2, the possible use of M. quadrifasciata anthidioides was evaluated from the introduction of nest boxes in coffee growing areas during flowering. For this purpose, the effect of excluding floral visitors on the rate of fruiting and on the production and weight of grains was also considered, as well as the effect of the density of native bee nests in the vicinity of crops and the distance from forest remnants. Pollinator access increased by 46% in the fruiting rate (p <0.001), in weight 5% (p = 0.025) and fruit size 3% (p <0.001). The results showed that the management of M. quadrifasciata anthidioides improved the production, since the unmanaged areas decreased the fruits (p <0.001) the size (p <0.001) and the weight (p <0.001). Management increased the fruiting rate 19%, weight 35% and size 10%. In addition, the density of nests around the crops contributed to an increase in the rate of fruiting by 28% (p <0.001), weight 24% (p <0.001) and size 6% of the seeds (p <0.001). The distance was a significant variation factor for fruiting rate (p <0.001) and seed weight (p <0.001) increasing by 25% and 23% respectively. Finally, the forest remnants are important to conserve the diversity of pollinators and to improve coffee production. Nest boxes of M. quadrifasciata anthidioides can be managed to improve coffee production. Forest remnants are important, harboring several coffee pollinators, including M. quadrifasciata anthidioides. The species is of great ecological and economic importance and needs to be preserved in its natural habitat and can be of great importance to improve coffee production in the main producing region of the country, the South of Minas Gerais, or be managed for further improvement in production.