On the Diversity of Foraging-Related Traits in Stingless Bees

Abstract

Stingless bee pot-honey is a valuable product with a long tradition of harvest and consumption. The differences found among meliponine honeys with respect to their physicochemical composition, sugar content, and floral origin depend not only on the geographic region but also on the stingless bee species kept for honey production. Tropical habitats are frequently shared by several dozen meliponine species and, consequently, diet overlap in terms of food plants used is considerable. Competition and the selective pressure to maximise food collection shaped a rich variety of foraging-related traits among the stingless bees. In the present chapter, we want to give a brief overview of this diversity, discussing the importance of morphological traits (tongue length, body colour, and body size) for the separation of fundamental food niches among the Meliponini. In contrast to a species’ fundamental niche, which is delimited by the morphological and physiological characteristics of an organism, the food niche realised by a species is determined through the interactions with other organisms that share the same fundamental food niche. Here, differences in foraging strategy among the stingless bees with regard to aggression, recruitment ability, and recruitment precision influence dominance relationships at a feeding site and, thus, are important factors concerning the partitioning of resources.