In my thesis, I examined impacts of nesting and floral resources on ground-nesting bee assemblages at nine ranch sites with differing grazing histories. Because ecological disturbances can strongly affect the availability of foraging and nesting resources over time, I also examined the impacts of grazing history on nesting and floral resources for ground-nesting bees. I sampled bee assemblages, a comprehensive array of vegetation and soil measures, and floral abundance and richness. I used these data to determine (1) the importance of different nesting habitat resources and livestock grazing history for ground-nesting bees and (2) how livestock grazing history influenced the availability of nesting and floral resources. I found that sites with sandier soils had greater abundance and richness of ground-nesting bees, and sites with less compacted soils had greater bee abundance. Contrary to many other studies, the availability of bare ground was not important for ground-nesting bee abundance or richness. Grazing history did not affect any measures of nesting or floral habitat, and had negligible effects on ground-nesting bee abundance, richness, and community composition. My results suggest that the availability of sandier or less compacted soils may be limiting for ground-nesting bee abundance or richness, especially in areas with predominately clay soil types. In this context, the availability of such nesting resources may be more limiting than floral resource availability. More research is necessary to tease apart the effects of different nesting and floral resources for bees, and how different grassland management types affect bees through those resources. My findings highlight the importance of considering nesting habitat resources in bee conservation and restoration efforts.

<p>U&nbsp; radu&nbsp; je&nbsp; prikazana&nbsp; distribucija,&nbsp; dinamika&nbsp; i&nbsp; diverzitet&nbsp; insekata opra&scaron;ivača iz reda Hymenoptera&nbsp; -&nbsp; Apiformes (Anthophila) i Diptera Syrphidae)&nbsp; na&nbsp; stepskim&nbsp; fragmentima&nbsp; i&nbsp; na&nbsp; suncokretu&nbsp; u agroekosistema&nbsp; Vojvodine.&nbsp; U&nbsp; cilju&nbsp; uvida&nbsp; u&nbsp; strukturu&nbsp; predela&nbsp; injenog&nbsp; uticaja&nbsp; na&nbsp; sastav&nbsp; i&nbsp; brojnost&nbsp; polinatora,&nbsp; kartirani&nbsp; su&nbsp; tipovistani&scaron;ta&nbsp; oko&nbsp; svakog&nbsp; stepskog&nbsp; fragmenta.&nbsp; Na&nbsp; osnovu&nbsp; podataka dobijenih kartiranjem, odabrano je sedam stepskih fragmenata kojiu&nbsp; svom&nbsp; okruženju&nbsp; imaju&nbsp; visok&nbsp; udeo&nbsp; suncokreta&nbsp; kao&nbsp; masovnocvetajuće&nbsp; kulture&nbsp; i&nbsp; sedam&nbsp; stepskih&nbsp; fragmenata&nbsp; koji&nbsp; su&nbsp; bez&nbsp; ili&nbsp; saniskim&nbsp; udelom&nbsp; suncokreta.&nbsp; Iz&nbsp; reda&nbsp; Hymenoptera&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; Apoideazabeleženo&nbsp; je&nbsp; &scaron;est&nbsp; familija:&nbsp; Andrenidae,&nbsp; Apidae,&nbsp; Colletidae,Halictidae,&nbsp; Melittidae&nbsp; i&nbsp; Megachilidae,&nbsp; 114&nbsp; vrsta,&nbsp; a&nbsp; iz&nbsp; reda&nbsp; Diptera(Syrphidae),&nbsp; registrovano&nbsp; je&nbsp; ukupno&nbsp; 11&nbsp; vrsta.&nbsp; Predstavnici&nbsp; familija Andrenidae, Apidae i Halictidae su distribuirani na svim lokalitetima,predstavnici&nbsp; familije&nbsp; Megachilidae&nbsp; su&nbsp; distribuirani&nbsp; na&nbsp; 15&nbsp; od&nbsp; 16lokaliteta,&nbsp; a&nbsp; najmanje&nbsp; su&nbsp; zastupljene&nbsp; jedinke&nbsp; familija&nbsp; Colletidae&nbsp; i<br />Melittidae,&nbsp; distribuirane&nbsp; na&nbsp; pet&nbsp; lokaliteta.&nbsp; Polinatori&nbsp; reda&nbsp; Diptera familije&nbsp; Syrphidae&nbsp; su&nbsp; distribuirani&nbsp; na&nbsp; svim&nbsp; lokalitetima.&nbsp; Rezultati Kruskal-Volisovog H testa ukuzuju da je tokom sve tri sezone (2011.,2012.,&nbsp; 2013.)&nbsp; na&nbsp; stepskim&nbsp; fragmentima&nbsp; najvi&scaron;e&nbsp; bilo&nbsp; zastupljeno vrsta&nbsp; solitarnih&nbsp; pčela,&nbsp; zatim&nbsp; vrsta&nbsp; osolikih&nbsp; muva,&nbsp; a&nbsp; najmanje&nbsp; vrsta bumbara.&nbsp; Istim&nbsp; testom&nbsp; je&nbsp; dobijano&nbsp; da&nbsp; je&nbsp; tokom&nbsp; sve&nbsp; tri&nbsp; sezone&nbsp; na stepskim&nbsp; fragmentima,&nbsp; registrovano&nbsp; najvi&scaron;e&nbsp; jedinki&nbsp; osolikih&nbsp; muva,<br />zatim&nbsp; medonosne&nbsp; pčele,&nbsp; solitarne&nbsp; pčele,&nbsp; a&nbsp; najmanje&nbsp; jedinki bumbara.&nbsp; Fridmanovim&nbsp; testom&nbsp; su&nbsp; utvrđene&nbsp; razlike&nbsp; u&nbsp; brojnosti (dinamici)&nbsp; polinatora&nbsp; kroz&nbsp; sezone,&nbsp; uočen&nbsp; je&nbsp; porast&nbsp; broja&nbsp; jedinki medonosne pčele i opadanje broja jedinki solitarnih pčela.Rezultati&nbsp; dobijeni&nbsp; Man-Vitnijevim&nbsp; U-testom&nbsp; pokazuju&nbsp; da&nbsp; je&nbsp; na<br />stepskim&nbsp; fragmentima&nbsp; koji&nbsp; imaju&nbsp; niži&nbsp; udeo&nbsp; suncokreta&nbsp; u&nbsp; predelu zastupljeno&nbsp; vi&scaron;e&nbsp; jedinki&nbsp; i&nbsp; vrsta&nbsp; bumbara.&nbsp; Istim&nbsp; testom&nbsp; je&nbsp; dobijen rezultat&nbsp; da&nbsp; je&nbsp; na&nbsp; stepskim&nbsp; fragmentima&nbsp; sa&nbsp; visokim&nbsp; udelom suncokreta&nbsp; ima&nbsp; vi&scaron;e&nbsp; jedinki&nbsp; medonosne&nbsp; pčele.&nbsp; Vilkoksonovim testom&nbsp; sume&nbsp; rangova&nbsp; je&nbsp; pokazano&nbsp; da&nbsp; su&nbsp; jedinke&nbsp; i&nbsp; vrste&nbsp; bumbara zastupljenije na stepskim fragmentima nakon cvetanja suncokreta, za&nbsp; vreme&nbsp; cvetanja&nbsp; suncokreta&nbsp; na&nbsp; stepskim&nbsp; fragmentima&nbsp; je registrovano&nbsp; vi&scaron;e&nbsp; jedinki&nbsp; <em>Apis&nbsp; mellifera</em>,&nbsp; osolikih&nbsp; muva&nbsp; i&nbsp; solitarnih pčela.&nbsp; Modeli&nbsp; regresionih&nbsp; analiza&nbsp; linearnih&nbsp; me&scaron;ovitih&nbsp; modela&nbsp; su pokazali&nbsp; da&nbsp; se&nbsp; sa&nbsp; porastom&nbsp; udela&nbsp; suncokreta&nbsp; u&nbsp; predelu&nbsp; smanjuje broj jedinki divljih pčela i jedinki i vrsta bumbara. Sa porastom udela polu-prirodnih&nbsp; stani&scaron;ta&nbsp; u&nbsp; predelu&nbsp; i&nbsp; većom&nbsp; cvetnom&nbsp; pokrovnosti, povećava se udeo jedinki i vrsta osolikih muva.</p> / <p>This&nbsp; paper&nbsp; shows&nbsp; distribution,&nbsp; dynamic&nbsp; and&nbsp; pollinator&nbsp; diversity Hymenoptera&nbsp; -&nbsp; Apiformes&nbsp; (Anthophila)&nbsp; and Diptera (Syrphidae)&nbsp; in semi-natural&nbsp; habitats&nbsp; and&nbsp; in&nbsp; sunflower&nbsp; crops&nbsp; in&nbsp; Vojvodina&nbsp; agroecosystems.&nbsp; Around&nbsp; each&nbsp; of&nbsp; 16&nbsp; selected&nbsp; steppe&nbsp; fragments,&nbsp; habitat types&nbsp; were&nbsp; mapped&nbsp; to&nbsp; test&nbsp; how&nbsp; do&nbsp; landscape&nbsp; structure&nbsp; affects pollinator&nbsp; diversity&nbsp; and&nbsp; abundance&nbsp; in&nbsp; semi&nbsp; natural&nbsp; habitats&nbsp; and&nbsp; in sunflower&nbsp; crops.&nbsp; Based&nbsp; on&nbsp; the&nbsp; results&nbsp; obtained&nbsp; by&nbsp; mapping,&nbsp; seven study sites with high % of sunflower like mass flowering crops, and eight&nbsp; study&nbsp; sites&nbsp; with&nbsp; no&nbsp; or&nbsp; low&nbsp; %&nbsp; of&nbsp; mass&nbsp; flowering&nbsp; crops&nbsp; are selected. In total, there were 114 species from 6 families&nbsp; from order Hymenoptera-Apiformes:&nbsp; Andrenidae,&nbsp; Apidae,&nbsp; Colletidae, Halictidae, Melittidae and Megachilidae, and 11 species from order Diptera&nbsp; (Syrphidae).&nbsp; Insects&nbsp; from&nbsp; families:&nbsp; Andrenidae,&nbsp; Apidae, Colletidae&nbsp; and&nbsp; Halictidae&nbsp; were&nbsp; distributed&nbsp; on&nbsp; all&nbsp; study&nbsp; sites,&nbsp; while insects&nbsp; from&nbsp; family&nbsp; Megachilidae&nbsp; were&nbsp; distributed&nbsp; almost&nbsp; on&nbsp; all study&nbsp; sites&nbsp; (15&nbsp; sites).&nbsp; At&nbsp; least&nbsp; only&nbsp; on&nbsp; five&nbsp; study&nbsp; sites&nbsp; were distributed insects from family: Colletidae and Melittidae. Hoverflies were distributed on all study sites.&nbsp; Kruskal-Wallis H test shows that an&nbsp; all&nbsp; three&nbsp; seasons&nbsp; (2011.,&nbsp; 2012.,&nbsp; 2013.)&nbsp; in&nbsp; semi&nbsp; natural&nbsp; habitats wild bees species were most abundant, followed by hoverfly species, and bumblebee species at the end. Same test&nbsp; shows that&nbsp; in all three seasons in semi natural habitats individuals of hoverflies were more abundant than individuals of honey bees, wild bees&nbsp; and individuals of&nbsp; bumblebees,&nbsp; which&nbsp; were&nbsp; least&nbsp; abundant.&nbsp; Friedman&nbsp; test&nbsp; shows differences in densities of pollinator through the seasons, and these results&nbsp; shows&nbsp; increasing&nbsp; in&nbsp; Apis&nbsp; mellifera&nbsp; densities&nbsp; and&nbsp; decline&nbsp; of wild bees densities through seasons. Man-Whitney&nbsp; U-test&nbsp; shows&nbsp; that&nbsp; there&nbsp; were&nbsp; more&nbsp; species&nbsp; and individuals of bumble bees in semi-natural habitats which landscapes are without&nbsp; or low % of sunflower. Same test shows that there were more&nbsp; individuals&nbsp; of&nbsp; honey&nbsp; bees&nbsp; in&nbsp; semi-natural&nbsp; habitats&nbsp; which landscapes&nbsp; have&nbsp; high&nbsp; %&nbsp; of&nbsp; sunflower.&nbsp; Wilcoxon&nbsp; signed-rank&nbsp; test shows&nbsp; that&nbsp; in&nbsp; semi-natural&nbsp; habitats&nbsp; species&nbsp; and&nbsp; individuals&nbsp; of bumblebees&nbsp; were&nbsp; more&nbsp; abundant&nbsp; after&nbsp; blooming&nbsp; sunflower,&nbsp; while species&nbsp; and&nbsp; individuals&nbsp; of&nbsp; wild&nbsp; bees&nbsp; as&nbsp; well&nbsp; as&nbsp; individuals&nbsp; of hoverflies and&nbsp; <em>Apis mellifera</em>&nbsp; were&nbsp; more abundant during blooming sunflower.&nbsp; Linear mixed-effect model shows that with increase of % of&nbsp; sunflower&nbsp; in&nbsp; landscape&nbsp; number&nbsp; of&nbsp; individuals&nbsp; of&nbsp; wild&nbsp; bees&nbsp; and species and individuals of bumblebees decreasing, and individuals of hoverflies increasing. With an increase of % of semi natural habitats and&nbsp; increase&nbsp; of&nbsp; flower&nbsp; cover,&nbsp; abundance&nbsp; and&nbsp; species&nbsp; of&nbsp; hoverflies<br />increases.</p>

No description available.

Submitted by Cássio da Cruz Nogueira (cassionogueirakk@gmail.com) on 2017-05-15T16:24:46Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_EstudoAlimentacaoArtificial.PDF: 17355602 bytes, checksum: 17e6f1e2445562f95997160156284af0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edisangela Bastos (edisangela@ufpa.br) on 2017-05-18T14:25:20Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_EstudoAlimentacaoArtificial.PDF: 17355602 bytes, checksum: 17e6f1e2445562f95997160156284af0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-18T14:25:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_EstudoAlimentacaoArtificial.PDF: 17355602 bytes, checksum: 17e6f1e2445562f95997160156284af0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A meliponicultura tem avançado consideravelmente nos últimos anos e, como consequência, aumentaram as demandas por colônias. Entretanto as técnicas de produção precisam ser aprimoradas para atingir a escala necessária. A alimentação das abelhas é uma das técnicas que precisam ser estudadas, pois existem longos períodos de escassez de florada, o que reduz a disponibilidade de alimento para as abelhas e limita a produção de colônias. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo estudar uma alimentação artificial proteica para Melipona flavolineata. Foi investigado a composição nutricional do alimento natural (pólen estocado) e artificial (a base de extrato de soja), seus efeitos sobre a sobrevivência e tamanho dos imaturos e longevidade dos adultos. O alimento artificial é mais rico em carboidratos e lipídeos, porém mais pobre em proteínas. Contudo, a diferença não afetou a sobrevivência e tamanho dos indivíduos imaturos; foi afetada somente a longevidade dos indivíduos adultos. É recomendado que nas próximas fabricações, seja reduzida a quantidade de açúcar e adicionado ingredientes com teor de protéina mais elevado. A dieta a base de extrato de soja se mostrou um bom substituto para o polén, mas não perfeito. Pequenos ajustes de ingredientes podem ser direcionados a partir dos resultados desse trabalho para se chegar a um alimento de qualidade. / The stingless bee keeping has been improved considerably in the last years and, consequently, the demand for colonies has increased. However, the breeding techniques still need to be improved to reach the necessary production scale. The feeding system is one of the issues that must be studied and improved, because long periods of low availability of food resources constraint the production of new colonies. The present study aimed to test an artificial diet to replace the pollen for Melipona flavolineata. It was investigated the nutritional composition of their natural food (stored pollen) and of the artificial diet (based on soybean extract). The effect of the artificial diet was tested at the survival and size of brood and longevity of adult workers. The artificial diet presented a different nutritional composition compared to the stored pollen. It was richer in carbohydrates and lipids, but poorer in proteins. However, this difference did not affect the survival and size of brood and longevity of adult workers, but not drastically. It is recommended to reduce the amount of sugar and to add new ingredients with higher protein content in future diets. The diet based on soybean extract showed to be a good substitute for pollen, but not perfect. Small changes can be adressed based on the results of the present contribution to reach an artificial diet with better quality.

Submitted by Cássio da Cruz Nogueira (cassionogueirakk@gmail.com) on 2017-05-15T16:39:24Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_ManejoScaptotrigonaSp.pdf: 2201948 bytes, checksum: fd3ac8f772894c7833ccd4abc6d1bef0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edisangela Bastos (edisangela@ufpa.br) on 2017-05-19T12:12:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_ManejoScaptotrigonaSp.pdf: 2201948 bytes, checksum: fd3ac8f772894c7833ccd4abc6d1bef0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-19T12:12:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_ManejoScaptotrigonaSp.pdf: 2201948 bytes, checksum: fd3ac8f772894c7833ccd4abc6d1bef0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-31 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / FAPESPA - Fundação Amazônia de Amparo a Estudos e Pesquisas / Os meliponíneos são excelentes opções de insetos para serem manejados e utilizados na polinização de culturas agrícolas. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo geral manejar abelhas sem ferrão do gênero Scaptotrigona para incremento da polinização da rambuteira (Nephelium lappaceum L.). Foi utilizada Scaptotrigona sp. como modelo experimental. O primeiro capítulo focou a questão da fenologia da planta. Foi estudado o período de ocorrência e a duração dos estádios fenológicos da floração e frutificação do rambotã, em ambiente agrícola. Foi concluído que a floração da rambuteira no Estado do Pará ocorre em dois períodos no ano e a duração média de todo o ciclo reprodutivo da rambuteira nos dois anos de estudo foi de 123 e 128 dias, respectivamente. O segundo capítulo teve como objetivo avaliar se a introdução de colmeias de abelhas Scaptotrigona sp. promove o aumento da frutificação da rambuteira. Foi concluído que não ocorreu diferença significativa na frutificação efetiva do rambotã com a presença de abelhas, contudo, a abelha Scaptotrigona sp. apresentou altos índices de fidelidade polínica as flores do rambotã. Por fim, o terceiro capítulo foi focado em um ponto específico da criação de abelhas. Foi testado um modelo de caixa para criação de Scaptotrigona sp., avaliando aspectos como adaptação biológica e manejo das colônias. Estudou-se também seu desempenho em relação à um modelo de caixa cabocla. Foi demonstrado que a caixa testada (Embrapa) apresentou resultados satisfatórios, podendo por tanto ser utilizada na criação racional desta espécie. / Meliponini bees can be easily kept and they are important crop pollinators. This study aimed to manage a Scaptotrigona species to improve pollination in rambutan trees (Nephelium lappaceum L.). The first chapter analysed the phenological development (flowering and fruit phases) in rambutan crop. Two blossom periods per year were identified. The average cycle duration (from anthesis to harvest fruit point) was 123-128 days. The objective of the second chapter was evaluate the effect of Scaptotrigona sp. nests in rambutan fruit set. There were not significantly differences on rambutan fruit set upon bee presence or absence, although Scaptotrigona sp. presented high index of pollen fidelity to rambutan. The last chapter focused on a specific question about stingless beekeeping. It was tested whether a rational hive model (Embrapa) was better than a traditional hive (cabocla) for Scaptotrigona sp. management, by evaluating certain aspects, such as biological adaptation and management, . It was found that the studied hive (Embrapa) is a suitable model to rational creation of Scaptotrigona.

Les Attines ou fourmis champignonnistes sont d'importants ravageurs des cultures du monde néotropical. L'indispensable effet retard, à conférer aux insecticides chimiques ou biologiques pour une lutte efficace pourrait être obtenu par une encapsulation dans une enveloppe digestible par les sécrétions des fourmis. Quelques aspects de la physiologie digestive d'une Attine, Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich), ont été étudiés dans ce but. 1- L'étude morphologique du tube buccal et l'observation de la prise de nourriture ont permis de localiser, de décrire et de comprendre le mécanisme du filtre infrabuccal. La poche infrabuccale, remplie pendant l'alimentation et lors des différents comportements de nettoyage, se vide en moyenne une fois par jour en raison de la gêne causée par sa distension. Cette fréquence ne permet pas à la microflore de digérer les déchets organiques, mais peut être suffisante pour certaines hydrolyses salivaires. 2- Après une étude anatomique du tractus digestif des adultes et des larves, les enzymes digestives des sécrétions stomacales et glandulaires sont mises en évidence par une microméthode semi-quantitative. Les glandes labiales des adultes possèdent une activité béta-N-acétylglucosaminidasique et alpha-1-4-glucosadique. En plus de cette dernière, l'estomac sécrète des exopeptidases et lipases. Les autres glandes reliées au tractus alimentaire ne produisent pas d'enzymes digestives. Aucune endopeptidase n'est révélée chez l'adulte, par contre l'estomac des larves possède une activité chymotrypsique. 3- Une béta-N-acétylglucosaminidase, une chitobiase et une chitinase sont présentes dans les glandes labiales. Les caractéristiques (pH optimum, température optimale, Km) de ces enzymes permettent de les différentier nettement de celles qui sont décrites à ce jour. Ceci peut être lié au fait que ces fonctions digestives restent exceptionnelles chez les insectes. Pour A. octospinosus, les activités béta-N-acétylglucosaminidasique et chitobiasique sont le fait de deux enzymes différentes. L'action chitinolytique n'est pas liée à une microflore endosymbiotique. 4- L'activité alpha-1-4-glucosadique des glandes labiales et de l'estomac est précisée. Les glandes ne possèdent que l'amylase et l'estomac sécrète maltase et tréhalase. Les caractéristiques de ces enzymes sont étudiées. Amylase et tréhalase paraissent être des enzymes inductibles. 5- Suite à ces travaux, un schéma catabolique, tenant compte de l'association avec un champignon symbiotique, est proposé pour A. octospinosus. Les données sur la filtration buccale et l'enzymologie de la partie antérieure du tube digestif permettent de définir la taille des microcapsules et la nature des polymères digestibles à utiliser pour induire un effet retard des insecticides.

Measuring the diversity of bees was provided in two rapeseed fields (Dešenice, Miletice) in western Bohemia, where various species of bees were caught at eight different locations during two periods (March - April, May June). The bees were collected by using Moerickeho cups (yellow traps) with a concentrated solution of water and detergent.

Pest control of cultivated plant species has been usually performed by insecticides, which is undesirable because of economical and environmental concerns, since successive applications affect natural enemies and increase the possibility of development of resistant population toward insecticides. These problems can be minimized with alternative control methods as the use of resistant varieties, use of substances that induce resistance and biological control. Those studies involving the interaction of plant, pest and natural enemies are of fundamental importance. Thus, this study aimed: a) to study the effect of volatile organic compounds in tritrophic interactions between pepper Capsicum spp., the aphid Aphis gossypii and its parasitoid Aphidius colemani; b) to study the role of cis-jasmone in the tritrophic interaction between the pepper, the aphid A. gossypii and the parasitoid A. colemani and its role in activating the defense mechanism of the plant. Pepper varieties were evaluated for resistance to the aphid A. gossypii and their volatiles were collected before and after infestation. Volatiles compounds were tentatively identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Olfactometry bioassays were performed with volatile regarding the behavior of A. gossypii and A. colemani. The main conclusions obtained in this work were: a) there is genetic variability among genotypes of Capsicumin relation to the release of volatile compounds and in the susceptibility toward A. gossypii; b) genotype Cambuci can be used in breeding programs aiming Capsicum cultivars more resistant to A. gossypii; c) there were significant differences between the effects of volatiles from the two cultivars on behavior of A. gossypii and A. colemani; d) the volatiles emitted by Cambuci cultivar after infestation produced repellent effect on A. gossypii and were attractive to A. colemani; e) the cis-jasmone applied to pepper plants provided emission of volatiles that had repellent action on the A. gossypii and attractive one to A. colemani; f) the genetic variability between genotypes, after infestation indicates that volatile organic compounds present as variables can be used for selection and development of bell pepper cultivars resistant to the aphid A. gossypii. / O controle de pragas das espécies vegetais cultivadas tem sido normalmente realizado por meio de inseticidas, o que é indesejável tanto por motivos econômicos quanto ambientais, já que as aplicações sucessivas afetam os inimigos naturais e aumentam a possibilidade de desenvolvimento de populações da praga resistentes aos inseticidas. Esses problemas podem ser minimizados com métodos alternativos de controle como o emprego de variedades resistentes, o uso de substâncias indutoras e o controle biológico. Para isso, estudos envolvendo a interação planta, praga e inimigo natural são de fundamental importância. Dessa forma, este trabalho teve como objetivos: a) Estudar a ação dos compostos orgânicos voláteis na interação tritrófica entre o pimentão Capsicum spp., o pulgão Aphis gossypiie seu parasitóide Aphidiuscolemani; b) Estudar a ação da cis-jasmona na interação tritrófica entre o pimentão, o pulgão A. gossypii e o parasitóide A. colemani e seu papel na ativação do mecanismo de defesa do vegetal. Variedades de pimentão foram avaliadas em relação à resistência ao pulgão A. gossypii e os seus compostos voláteis foram coletados antes e após a infestação. Os compostos voláteis foram tentativamente identificados por cromatografia gasosa/espectrometria de massas. Bioensaios de olfatometria foram realizados com os compostos voláteis em relação ao comportamento de A. gossypii e A. colemani. As principais conclusões obtidas neste trabalho foram: a) Existe variabilidade genética entre os genótipos de Capsicum em relação à emissão de compostos voláteis e em relação à susceptibilidade ao A. gossypii; b) O genótipo Cambuci poderá ser utilizado em programas de melhoramento genético visando cultivares de Capsicum mais resistentes ao A. gossypii; c) Houve diferenças significativas entre os efeitos dos compostos voláteis das duas cultivares sobre os comportamentos de A. gossypii e de A. colemani; d) Os compostos voláteis emitidos pela cultivar Cambuci após a infestação proporcionaram efeito repelente a A. gossypii e atrativo a A. colemani; f) A cis-jasmona aplicada sobre plantas de pimentão induziu a emissão e/ou produção de compostos voláteis que teve ação de repelência a A. gossypii e ação atraente para A. colemani; i) A variabilidade genética entre os genótipos, após a infestação, indica que os compostos orgânicos voláteis apresentam-se como variáveis que podem ser utilizadas para seleção e desenvolvimento de cultivares de pimentão resistente ao pulgão A. gossypii.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-04-25Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:10:19Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 jacob_cro_me_rcla.pdf: 1789232 bytes, checksum: 4d1aeb62cf1a6763869b8890da8b652a (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Recentemente as abelhas têm sido devidamente valorizadas como importantes polinizadoras de flores silvestres e cultivadas. A densidade populacional de muitos polinizadores tem diminuído devido, principalmente, à intensificação agrícola e ao uso de pesticidas, prejudicando os serviços de polinização. A metodologia clássica para estimar a toxicidade dos produtos químicos para insetos é determinar a dose letal média (DL50) ou a concentração letal média (CL50), podendo então estabelecer doses que sejam mais seguras aos organismos não-alvo ou benéficos. Além dos efeitos de toxicidade aguda, levando a morte das abelhas, doses subletais dos inseticidas podem provocar alterações comportamentais e fisiológicas nos indivíduos, que ao longo do tempo acarretarão em sérios prejuízos na manutenção da colônia. Um dos inseticidas amplamente utilizado é o fipronil, este atua ligando-se aos receptores do ácido gama-aminobutírico (GABA), interrompendo os canais de cloro, resultando na perda de sinalização inibitória neural. Na literatura pode-se encontrar diversos trabalhos que utilizam como modelo principal a abelha Apis mellifera, porém, é importante ressaltar a diversidade existente entre as abelhas nativas no Brasil, os meliponíneos, e sua participação na conservação da biodiversidade, assim como na polinização de áreas de cultivo, o que torna extremamente importante estudos com essa abelha. Com a finalidade de entender como o fipronil interfere morfo e fisiologicamente em abelhas sem ferrão, a região de interesse deste estudo foram os corpos pedunculados, já que estes são centros cerebrais complexos e tidos como local de convergência multisensorial. Para auxiliar no mapeamento metabólico, utilizou-se como marcador a enzima citocromo oxidase e a enzima caspase-3, técnicas utilizadas na observação de atividade neural... / A few decades the bees are considered an important indicator of high environmental sensitivity, and appreciated as important pollinators of wildflowers and cultivated. The population density of many pollinators have declined to harmful levels to pollination services manly due to agricultural intensification and the use of pesticides. The classic methodology of estimating the effects of chemicals for insects is to determine the median lethal dose (LD50) or median lethal concentration (LC50) that can then establish doses that do not harm non-target organisms or beneficial. Besides the effects of acute toxicity, leading to death bees, sublethal doses of insecticides can cause physiological and behavior changes of individuals over time, resulting in serious harm to maintain the colony. One of the widely used insecticides is fipronil, its acts by binding to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) disrupting chloride channels, resulting in loss of inhibitory neural signaling. In the literature one can find several works using as main bee model Apis mellifera, however, it is important to highlight the diversity of Brazilian native bees, the stingless bees, and their participation in biodiversity conversation, as well as in the pollination of cultivated land. In order to understand how fipronil affect morpho and physiologically the stingless bee S. postica, the region of interest in this study were the mushroom bodies, since these are complex brain centers and used as a place of multisensory convergence. This work established the contact LD50 and Ingestion LC50 to the fipronil insecticide for foragers workers stingless bee Scaptotrigona postica in 0.54ng/bee and 0.24ng/μL of the food after 24 hours, respectively, confirming the high toxicity of this phenylpyrazole, in the groups submitted to contact contamination, were identify morphological... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Social insects are the most dominant terrestrial fauna for the last 50 million years. This tremendous ecological success is accompanied by the fact that sociality has evolved multiple times independently and achieved highest degree of complexity in insect lineages. The remarkable social organization found in insect societies is the result of finely balanced cooperation and conflict among the colony members. A typical hymenopteran colony is characterised by one or a few queens monopolizing reproduction and several sterile workers co-operatively raising brood and performing colony activities. The colonies are often conceptualized as superorganisms where groups of cooperative workers are compared with organs in the body, each of which accomplish a particular task like brood care, foraging and defence. The choice of tasks is often regulated by a systematic age polyethism. As the queens monopolize reproduction, they serve as the sole suppliers of eggs in the colony. Therefore, loss or death of the queen creates a crucial void which exposes the colony to potential reproductive conflict for the position of egg-layer. This crisis is expected to be extreme in monogynous colonies. The situation is rescued only after a new queen is established, and the whole process is known as queen succession. I am interested in this crisis management, and my thesis deals with potential and realized conflicts associated with queen succession and behavioural strategies involved in resolution of these conflicts. The queen can be replaced in two ways - either by a newly eclosed specialized reproductive individual, which happens in highly eusocial hymenopterans, or by an existing member of the colony (worker), as it happens in primitively eusocial hymenopterans. Unlike in highly eusocial species, the workers of primitively eusocial species retain their ancestral capability of mating and activating ovaries to produce both sons and daughters, which makes them suitable for taking up the role of queen in their lifetime. Hence, primitively eusocial species provide a unique situation where loss or death of the queen might result in severe reproductive conflict as the queen can be replaced by any one of the existing workers. Strictly monogynous colonies of the tropical primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata provide ideal opportunities to study the reproductive conflict and its resolution associated with queen succession because the queen is frequently replaced by one of her nestmates resulting in a serial polygyny. These queens have highly variable tenures of queenship ranging from seven to over 200 days, which, together with the fact that they are replaced by a variety of relatives such as daughters, niece and cousins, suggests a potential reproductive conflict with variable degrees of complexity. I have divided my thesis in three parts which are as follows -Natural queen turnover: Previous works from this lab have tried to characterize the queen succession in R. marginata colonies by experimentally removing the queen from the colony. As this design involves the experimenter intervening at a random point of the colony cycle, the colony might not respond in the similar way as it might have done to a natural succession necessitated by loss or death of the queen. But rarity and unpredictability of natural queen turnovers made them difficult to study. Therefore, in this section, we gathered a dataset of long-term and opportunistic quantitative behavioural observations on eleven natural queen turnovers and compared them with available data on queen removal experiments. All our queen removal experiments resulted in a hyper-aggressive potential queen who gradually reduced her aggression, activated her ovaries and went on to become the unanimously accepted new queen of the colony if the original queen was not returned. Here we found a similar phenomenon in natural colonies where a single un-challenged potential queen took over the colony as new queen after the old queen was lost, died or was driven out of the colony. In some of the natural colonies, the transition was preceded by aggression shown by the potential queens towards their nestmates including the queens, which indicates that they might have pre-empted the transition. The potential queens in natural colonies started laying eggs much faster than in experimental colonies suggesting their physiological readiness for the transition. How does a colony respond to a declining queen?: As we could show that some of the potential queens might perceive the upcoming queen turnover, a fair prediction would be that they sense it through the declining fertility status of the queens. Therefore, we tried to ex-perimentally induce situations where the queen appears to be declining, expecting that it might lead to a queen turnover. The growing evidence suggests that R. marginata queen maintains her status by applying a pheromone on the nest surface by rubbing the tip of her abdomen. We knocked down the nest to deny the queen the surface for applying her pheromone, and argued that the queen would be overthrown as the workers would sense her as infertile. To our surprise, the queen maintained her status in six out of seven colonies by applying her pheromone on the entire surface of the cage. However, the effectively insufficient concentration of pheromone elicited aggression from workers towards the queen, and the queen retaliated back with aggression. These results suggest that the pheromone, being an honest signal of fertility, is extremely important for the queen for maintaining her reproductive monopoly, and the workers are able to perceive the decline of the queen from her pheromone. Queen-successor conflict over access to reproduction: Here we more explicitly looked at the potential reproductive conflict between the queen and her successor over access to direct reproduction. We used the theory of parent-offspring conflict proposed by Robert Trivers (1974) as the conceptual framework and adapted it to unravel the pat-tern of queen-successor conflict in R. marginata colonies. According to this idea, we expected that there should be a pre-conflict zone where the queen and the successor both would agree that the queen should continue to reproduce, followed by a conflict zone where the successor would try to takeover but the queen would hang on, finally followed by post-conflict zone where they both would agree that the successor should reproduce. To test this expectation, we maintained the queen and the potential queen on either side of a wire-mesh partition, each with randomly chosen half of the workers. It allowed the potential queen (successor) to establish herself and then we reintroduced the queen to her side of the mesh daily till the queen gave up. We could behaviourally characterise all three zones which always appeared in the expected sequence. The pre and post-conflict zones had no aggressive interaction between the queen and the potential queen, whereas the conflict zone was characterized by aggressive falling fight between them. This is our first success in experimentally creating overt conflict between the queen and her successor. Overall we can say, that the queens and the potential queens of R. marginata show great behvioural plasticity which might have been shaped by natural selection as an adaptation for conflict resolution. We could show that the potential queens sometimes can predict the upcoming transition and pre-pare themselves accordingly, whereas they can also react to an experimentally created sudden loss of queen by hugely elevating their aggression. The docile queens, on the other hand, maintain their reproductive monopoly by a pheromone, which is essentially a feature of highly eusocial species. But these docile queens have not lost their capability to show aggression and can use that to complement the insufficient concentration of her pheromone. This and the behaviour of potential queens in their establishment phase are strongly reminiscent of typical primitively eusocial species. We conclude that Ropalidia marginata is, perhaps, a particularly advanced primitively eusocial hymenopteran situated on an evolutionary continuum from primitive to highly eusocial species.