Competencia o partición de nicho por los recursos en abejas nativas Melipona mimetica y Scaptotrigona sp. En un bosque seco al sur de Ecuador.

Abstract

Stingless bees are one of the most abundant groups of insects in the Neotropics.

In Ecuador for the provinces of Loja, Zamora and El Oro, there is great diversity of bees, considering 17 genera and 89 species. Despite the importance of these insects as pollinators, there are few studies in Ecuador addressed to the analysis of the relationship bee - plant.

For better understanding of this relationship, we assessed whether there is competition or niche partitioning between two species Melipona sp mimetic and Scaptotrigona in a dry forest in southern Ecuador.

We did three samplings were carried out between June and October 2015, we compute the resource load of bees. We recorded 63 structures pollen belonging to 28 families, 35 genera, 30 species and 3 spores. 16% of structures belonging to the family Fabaceae and Lamiaceae, also found a preference Polygonaceae and unidentified Morphotype (20) for Melipona mimetic and Senna sp., and Physalis pubescens for Scaptotrigona sp. Our findings suggest increased competition in times of limited resources and a small partition when resources are available