Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers !

Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers

 I came across this very interesting abstract from a study of cacao pollination by meliponine bee Liotrigona parvula Darchen in Africa,(which would be a stngless bee species at least related to those found in Central and South America!).I have been interested in just how many stingless bees might exist in the so called 'Old World' including Africa.I had already been aware that stingless bees exist in Australia and were a source of honey for the Aborigenes.Also someone from Japan had told me that there were stingless bees in South East Asia,particularly Thailand.What is  new and exciting to me and no doubt to most people interested in cacao is that stingless bees may contribute however slightly or not,to cacao pollination in Africa and I have just come across a similar claim being made by an investigator in Central America that another stingless bee species has been shown to pollinate cacao in Costa Rica and is competitive in that task with its midge or fly competitors,at least in situations where cacao is growing in direct sunlight !

Excuse the exclamation marks but this stingless bee-cacao pollination  is big news and,even for most cacao experts,new news.If true it would show that at least one stingless bee can do the pollination of cacao generally believed done only by tiny flies or midges ! While the African observer appears to be saying that the stingless bee Liotrigona parvula Darchenmay may very well be contributing to cacao pollination in cacao plantations,the Costa Rica observers appear to be saying the stingless bee taking pollen in diect sunlight in competition with midges may not be pollinating at all.Still stingless bees do pollinate other trees and crops and are valuable to a diverse ecology including in cacao agro-ecosystems and even if the stingless bee took pollen back to its nest it most likely is at least rarely or not,contributing to cacao pollination there as well..

http://journals.cambridge.org/actiion/displayAbstract;jsessionid=8D1F87A9AD1AFA5B7A1C53FF2DC8EB40.journals?fromPage=online&aid=5981784 

Research Paper Dynamics of cocoa pollination: tools and applications for surveying and monitoring cocoa pollinators
E.A. Frimponga1 c1, I. Gordona2, P.K. Kwaponga1 and B. Gemmill-Herrena3 a1 Department of Entomology and Wildlife, School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana a2 icipe – African Insect Science for Food and Health, PO Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya a3 AGPS – FAO, Viale Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy
Abstract
Pollinators are important natural agents for fruit and seed formation in most tree crops and the use of appropriate sampling methods is fundamental in studying their population. A study to develop surveying and monitoring protocols for cocoa pollinators was undertaken in Ghana. Yellow, white and blue UV-bright painted pan traps (UVPPT), McPhail traps and motorized aspirators were used to sample pollinators of cocoa for 13 successive months, after 6 days assessment of the effectiveness of the traps and diurnal active period of the pollinators. The peak pollinating period of cocoa by ceratopogonid midges was between 07.00 and 12.00 h, as previously reported. All three methods were effective in sampling ceratopogonid midges with the UVPPT being the most efficient in terms of sampling effort. The number of ceratopogonid midges caught by the yellow-UVPPT was significantly higher than that by blue- and white-UVPPT. The diversity of midges caught could not be determined due to taxonomic difficulties, and thus all the three colours of UVPPT should be used until efficiency in terms of diversity is determined. It is reported here that the meliponine bee Liotrigona parvula Darchen visits cocoa flowers and thus their effectiveness in cocoa pollination should be investigated. ..................................................

 

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 http://www.springerlink.com/content/t773gu0133132270/

Pollen-collecting by stingless bees on cacao flowers
 

A. M. Young 

Stingless bees (Trigona jaty) routinely visit the flowers ofTheobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae) in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica. The bees collect pollen and behave as pollen thieves in flowers well exposed to direct sunlight in cacao plantations, and avoid flowers in heavy shade. Pollination rates are maximized, however, in heavy shade due to the high abundance of the small-bodied pollinating midges (Ceratopogonidae and Cecidomyiidae) found in such places. Pollen-thieving by stingless bees, therefore, may only impact on fruit set in cacao trees in direct sunlight, with only minimal to no impact in areas of cacao where natural pollinator activity is high.

Key words Trigona jaty - pollination - cacao - sunlight - shade

This research was funded by grants from The American Cocoa Research Institute of the United States of America. I thank T. Noeske for statistical assistance.



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google search 'stingless bees pollen honey production  collecting'
 https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=stingless+bees+pollen+honey+production++collecting&oq=stingless+bees+pollen+honey+production++collecting&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=serp.12...19373.26156.0.27839.18.18.0.0.0.0.204.2856.1j16j1.18.0.t4CU6h8lMx8

Below is from an NGO group's website involved with stingless bees and honey in the Amazon.I have read estimates from 25 species to 400 species of stingless bees in the world to their estimate of 800 species !
Here in Guatemala over a couple of decades I have only encountered 2 species whose honey is available regularly to be sold to the public.One is a honey called miel blanca or 'white honey' that could potentially be domesticated rather than just robbing iyts honey in the wild as is common.The other is a honey called talnet
or talnete that is produced by a species of bee living beneath the ground and whose honey both looks like a red wine and is in fact just about as liquid as red wine or water.
While the bee responsible for miel blanca probably nests in trees and could be domseticated or semi-domesticated,unfortunately I belive the bees respobnsible for talnet honey live below ground and cannot to my knowledge be dometicated.The nest is apparently destroyed each time the honey is found
and perhaps the only solution is to identify the plants used by these bees and make special effort to educate those making a living by harvesting this honey in the wild,to respect and protect their food sources and to
not over harvest.
I was fascinated to learn from the article below that the Amazon has a stingless bee that is the size of the apis bee that we commonly get our honey from and use to pollinate our agricultural crops around the world.Also I concur with the fact that stingless bees generally produce a honey with a higher water content than apis bee honey and as I've said,the tanet honey here is about as liquid as water or wine.


http://www.melipona.org/about.html

  





 Honey from stingless bees
About 800 species of stingless bees are found throughout tropical regions of the World, ranging from such ecologically diverse habitats as humid rainforest to dry savanna or cerrado. Their greatest diversity and abundance, however, is in the Amazonian rain forest. While they range in size from only a few mm to larger than the honey bee (Apis mellifera), they all live in colonies where they care for the brood (the new bees) laid by the colony mother, or queen. Some colonies contains thousands of individuals. Working females are constantly flying in and out of the colony to gather what is needed for sustaining the large family. Most importantly the foraging workers gather honey and pollen used as provision for the young bees (larvae) being reared. The bees will usually store a large amount of both honey and pollen during favorable times which they can use later. If properly managed, the honey can be harvested from the stingless bees without damaging or weakening the colony. The taste of stingless bee honey is experienced different by different people, but generally it is called very sweet and pleasant, almost acidic and with a boost of floral fragrances. The highly desired Tetragonisca honey is a little more acidic compared to honey from Melipona due to the plants visited by these bees...............

Honey from stingless bees About 800 species of stingless bees are found throughout tropical regions of the World, ranging from such ecologically diverse habitats as humid rainforest to dry savanna or cerrado. Their greatest diversity and abundance, however, is in the Amazonian rain forest. While they range in size from only a few mm to larger than the honey bee (Apis mellifera), they all live in colonies where they care for the brood (the new bees) laid by the colony mother, or queen. Some colonies contains thousands of individuals. Working females are constantly flying in and out of the colony to gather what is needed for sustaining the large family. Most importantly the foraging workers gather honey and pollen used as provision for the young bees (larvae) being reared. The bees will usually store a large amount of both honey and pollen during favorable times which they can use later. If properly managed, the honey can be harvested from the stingless bees without damaging or weakening the colony. The taste of stingless bee honey is experienced different by different people, but generally it is called very sweet and pleasant, almost acidic and with a boost of floral fragrances. The highly desired Tetragonisca honey is a little more acidic compared to honey from Melipona due to the plants visited by these bees.   Traditional use of honey from stingless bees The use of stingless bee honey is known from all of the regions where these bees are found, with possibly most interest in the cultivation in Latin America and Australia (called sugar-bags there). The best documented use of honey from stingless bees comes from the Mayan civilization in the Yucatan peninsula where they use Melipona beechei. Here the bee is called "xunancab" and beekeeping of this species originated independent of hive beekeeping with honey bees in the Old World. "Xunancab" was in the Maya civilization only second in importance to corn (maize) in people's lives and rituals. The honey was used both as honey, but also fermented as "balche", their alcoholic drink. Today the tradition of keeping stingless bees has largely been abandoned in favor of imported honey bees (Apis mellifera) which yields more honey. In Peru stingless bee honey has been used in traditional medicine for centuries or more, but the actual beekeeping has been limited and most honey for the local market is collected by cutting down trees with entire bee colonies, which are then left to die. Traditionally honey from stingless bees are harvested by squeezing the honey pots with the bare hands and collecting the honey as it pour out of the nest, often contaminated with pollen and brood (bee larvae). This makes the honey particular susceptible to fermentation. The honey is widely used and often sold at local markets. Here the honey may serve both as a sweetener, but more often as part of folk medicine. Stingless bee honey are an important part of different treatments against throat infections (common cold, cough), but are also used in the treatment of fertility problems. While the honey possesses anti-bacterial properties dependent on the botanical origin of the honey, the combination of stingless bee honey with jungle herbs may alter or improve the properties of each remedy to be more specific in the treatment. A typical mixture to combat fever include stingless bee honey (1 part) mixed with sugar cane alcohol (5 parts) and left with the local plant "chuchu-huasi" (Maytenus krukovii) and pollen. How can I tell the difference between honey bee honey and stingless bee honey? Stingless bee honey is more liquid than the well known honey bee honey. Honey bee honey has a water content of about 20% while the stingless bees has a water content of between 20-42%, depending on the species and the area from where the honey is collected. The high water content in stingless bee honey makes it very prone to fermentation. The flavor is often described as a more flowery than honey bee honey, but it depends largely on the species. There has been relatively little scientific research into the medical properties attributed to honey from stingless bees, but due to the presumption that it is a remedy and the usually low amount of honey produced, the price is much higher than that of honey bee honey (Apis mellifera). How do we collect and store the honey? We use the modern rational bee hive design as developed by Noguiera-Neto in Brazil, a design that allows us to harvest honey under very hygienic conditions. We use a medical aspirator (AspiraMax MA-520) imported from Brazil to efficiently gather honey from individual honey pots. All of our honey gathering equipment and bottles are boiled for sanitation before each use. The honey is then gathered from the Melipona colony and bottled directly. To avoid fermentation of the honey, we pasteurize the honey by heating it up to 72° C for 15 seconds, as recommended by Noguiera-Neto. The honey should be kept dark and at room temperature, although if necessary to store the honey for an extended period of time, refrigeration may be used to prevent fermentation. For extraction of honey from Tetragonisca hives it is necessary to remove all of the honey pots from the hive and manually extract the honey. The wax produced by Tetragonisca for their honey pots is so delicate that the aspirator collapses the pots when used. Due to this our honey from Tetragonisca may contain tiny fragments of the honey pots. How to consume the honey you just purchased? We recommend to use our stingless bee honey against the common cold in a mix of two tablespoons of honey (10 ml) and half a tablespoon of fresh lime (2.5 ml). It is also recommended to add a little garlic if you are coughing. Stingless bee honey is also great in fruit salads; adding it to a bowl full of e.g. banana, pineapple, apple, mangos, grapes, the juice of two oranges, and finally three-four tablespoons (15-20 ml) of stingless bee honey. Fruit flavored yogurt can be added. Of course, the honey can also be used in place of honey bee honey or sugar to add a more exotic flavor, but keep in mind, that honey from stingless bees is a little more runny than what you usually experience with honey bee honey. Different varieties of stingless bee honey We keep a range of stingless bees for study. They all have their unique and characteristic honey. Generally we recommend the consumption of honey only from the genera Melipona and Tetragonisca, as well as a few others that we do not sell at the moment. The quantity of honey produced is low compared to honey bees. After a full year we expect to harvest 4-500 ml from a good hive of Melipona. We leave all of the pollen pots untouched for the bees to use and also leave some of the honey pots in the hive for the bee to survive on. The production in Tetragonisca hives is minor, and we extract less than 100 ml from their hives during a year. Where did your honey come from? Our colonies are kept in different parts around the city of Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru. Our bees will here visit tall trees in the secondary rainforest along the River Shilcayo or River Cumbaza. They will occasionally encounter a few monkeys or a lone toucan in the trees, while colorful poison-arrow frogs (Dendrobates) sing from the bank of the river. We are not certain how many different trees have been visited for your honey, but guarantee that the honey is completely authentic and not altered or modified by additives or artificial feeding during the honey production. This guarantees a rich and unique flavor to your honey. Supplemental sugar is provided to strengthen the colonies only when we are installing colonies into new hives following reproduction, and thus prevents us from loosing a very valuable genetic resource from our management program. Rainforest conservation and stingless bees The stingless bees depend on the rainforest to succeed. Unlike honey bees (Apis mellifera) they do not adapt to low diversity crop systems and will disappear if the rainforest disappear. Therefore the promotion of stingless bees is a very important tool to educate people living in the rainforests about the importance of their surrounding forest. Honey production by native stingless bees is also an ecologically very sound and cheap method to generate a sustainable livelihood in the Amazon rainforest. Production of stingless bee honey provides the farmer with an economic alternative to logging and encourage the conservation of trees as nectar and pollen sources. By developing stingless bee honey programs, we hope to raise the living standard for otherwise marginalized people and contribute to their awareness in conservation of the rain forest and all of its inhabitants. About us We are a legally registered Peruvian NGO ("Asociación Civil Melipona"). Since 2002 we have kept and studied stingless bees. Our mission is to promote the keeping of stingless bees throughout the Amazon region in an aim to teach people about conservation and the importance of eco-systems as an sustainable alternative, with the utilization of non-timber forest products like honey from stingless bees. We are still in a pilot-phase developing techniques for keeping stingless bees and pursuing other conservation goals. Our background range from professional entomologist with Ph.D., agronomists, and Peruvian farmers, all united by the curiosity and love for the nature and the native bees. Thank you for reading all of our about page! All of our credit card transactions are handled by Paypal on their separate secure site. This provides you with a safe and secure form of payment. We never receive any financial information from Paypal other than their payment from you. Your personal contact information is well protected by Melipona.org and we will not provide your information to any third parties. In accordance with FDA regulation, we do not make any therapeutic claims for any Dietary Supplements in accordance with the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.

  http://www.melipona.org/about.html