Inventário de abelhas do Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, Ceará

Abstract

Bees present an important role in pollination of crops and wild plants, besides being used in the exploration of its products. However, the decline of bees has been reported and has multifactorial causes. One of these factors is the urbanization. In this way, the concern in studying the bee diversity has increased. In this sense, this work aimed to evaluate the bee fauna and associate it with the flora in an urban area in Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, Ceará. The experiment initiated in august/2017 until July/2018 where it was performed biweekly samplings walking through a transect of six kilometers twice a day. The sampling methods were: Sweeping net, aromatic baits and pan traps. A total of 5373 bee specimens were sampled and distributed e families Apidae, Halictidae, Megachilidae, Andrenidae and Colletidae, presenting 29 genera and 50 species. Among the sampled families Apidae and Halictidae predominate throughout the year with Trigona spinipes and Augochloropsis sp. 2 being the most abundant of each family. The bees were observed in 41 botanic families comprehending native, exotic, ruderal, ornamental and fructiferous plants. The study presents all families found in Brazil exhibiting considerable diversity. Some species were abundant throughout the year probably due to the sociality level that they present. Besides, the campus offers diverse floral resources and nesting sites for these animals. Some groups found on campus showed preference for fructiferous plants like Malpighiaceae which was frequently visited by Centris and Augochloropsis sp. 2. In conclusion, although Campus do Pici is an urban area it presents a considerable bee diversity. The conservation of remnants of native vegetation, introduction of native and exotic plants in urban areas and the maintenance of meadows with ruderal plants in urban gardens can help to support the bee diversity. Many bees found on campus have interesting characteristics for crop pollination and for exploration of their products in apiculture and meliponiculture.