Orientador: Odair Correa Bueno / Banca: Luiz Carlos Forti / Banca: Maria Santina de Castro Morini / Banca: Osmar Malaspina / Banca: Ana Eugênia de Carvalho Campos Farinha / Abstract: The present work aimed to evaluate the efficiency of crude oils of Carapa guianensis Aubl. (crabwood), Elaeis guineensis Jacq. (African oil palm), Sesamum indicum L. (sesame), Ricinus communis L. (castor beans), Azadirachta indica Juss (neem), Theobroma cacao L. (cocoa), Anacardium occidentale L. (cashew nut) and crude extracts of Anacardium occidentale on leafcutting ants control, using Atta sexdens rubropilosa as model. Toxicity bioassays with ant workers were done using: 1) treatments by incorporation of crude oils or extracts in artificial diet and 2) treatments by topic application of crude oils or extracts on the ants pronotum. According to obtained results in toxicity tests, some crude oils and extracts were select to be incorporated in baits or applied by nebulization and tested on laboratory colonies. The crude oils or extracts more efficient on laboratory colonies control were tested on field grown up colonies. The obtained results in all toxicity tests permitted to select crude oils of C. guianensis, E. guineensis, S. indicum, R. communis, A. indica, A. occidentale and hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of A. occidentale to be applied by nebulization and crude oils of E. guineensis, A. indica and A. occidentale to be incorporated in baits and tested on laboratory colonies. On laboratory colonies, the nebulization with crude oils of C. guianensis, E. guineensis, S. indicum, R. communis and A. indica didn't cause any effect on colonies. Therefore, these crude oils don't must be used to leaf-cutting ants control. However, crude oil and hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of A. occidentale propitiated the extinction of colonies. The E. guineensis, A. indica and A. occidentale baits didn't any cause effect on colonies hence it follows that these baits don't must be used to leaf-cutting ant's control / Doutor

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-04-18Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:07:20Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 oliveira_mfss_dr_rcla.pdf: 927200 bytes, checksum: 190eb33eedd48dc2ac945922c0eb1a87 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O presente trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a eficiência dos óleos brutos de Carapa guianensis Aubl. (andiroba), Elaeis guineensis Jacq. (dendê), Sesamum indicum L. (gergelim), Ricinus communis L. (mamona), Azadirachta indica Juss (nim), Theobroma cacao L. (cacau), Anacardium occidentale L. (caju) e dos extratos de Anacardium occidentale no controle de formigas cortadeiras, utilizando como alvo a espécie Atta sexdens rubropilosa. De acordo com os resultados obtidos nos testes de toxicidade, alguns óleos brutos e extratos foram selecionados para serem incorporados em iscas ou aplicados por nebulização e testados em colônias de laboratório. Os óleos brutos e extratos mais eficientes no controle dessas colônias foram selecionados para testes de campo. Os resultados obtidos nos testes permitiram selecionar os óleos brutos de C. guianensis, E. guineensis, S. indicum, R. communis, A. indica, A. occidentale e os extratos hexânico, diclorometano, acetato de etila e metanólico de A. occidentale para serem aplicados por nebulização e os óleos brutos de E. guineensis, A. indica e A. occidentale para serem incorporados em iscas e testados em colônias de laboratório. Em colônias de laboratório, a nebulização com os óleos brutos de C. guianensis, E. guineensis, S. indicum, R. communis e A. indica não causaram efeitos deletérios nas colônias e, portanto, não devem ser indicados como produtos nebulizáveis no controle de formigas cortadeiras. No entanto, o óleo bruto e os extratos hexânico, diclorometano, acetato de etila e metanólico de A. occidentale propiciaram a extinção das colônias. As iscas contendo óleos brutos de E. guineensis, A. indica e A. occidentale não causaram nenhum efeito nas colônias e, portanto, não devem ser indicadas para o controle de formigas cortadeiras. O óleo bruto de A. occidentale foi testado em colônias de campo de Atta sexdens rubropilosa e Atta bisphaerica por meio da termonebulização e da nebuli / The present work aimed to evaluate the efficiency of crude oils of Carapa guianensis Aubl. (crabwood), Elaeis guineensis Jacq. (African oil palm), Sesamum indicum L. (sesame), Ricinus communis L. (castor beans), Azadirachta indica Juss (neem), Theobroma cacao L. (cocoa), Anacardium occidentale L. (cashew nut) and crude extracts of Anacardium occidentale on leafcutting ants control, using Atta sexdens rubropilosa as model. Toxicity bioassays with ant workers were done using: 1) treatments by incorporation of crude oils or extracts in artificial diet and 2) treatments by topic application of crude oils or extracts on the ants pronotum. According to obtained results in toxicity tests, some crude oils and extracts were select to be incorporated in baits or applied by nebulization and tested on laboratory colonies. The crude oils or extracts more efficient on laboratory colonies control were tested on field grown up colonies. The obtained results in all toxicity tests permitted to select crude oils of C. guianensis, E. guineensis, S. indicum, R. communis, A. indica, A. occidentale and hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of A. occidentale to be applied by nebulization and crude oils of E. guineensis, A. indica and A. occidentale to be incorporated in baits and tested on laboratory colonies. On laboratory colonies, the nebulization with crude oils of C. guianensis, E. guineensis, S. indicum, R. communis and A. indica didn't cause any effect on colonies. Therefore, these crude oils don't must be used to leaf-cutting ants control. However, crude oil and hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of A. occidentale propitiated the extinction of colonies. The E. guineensis, A. indica and A. occidentale baits didn't any cause effect on colonies hence it follows that these baits don't must be used to leaf-cutting ant's control.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) may serve as bioindicators of habitat quality for themselves and also other insect pollinators because we can observe, decode, map, and analyze the information encoded in the waggle dance communication behavior, which allows us to know where and when bees are collecting high quality forage. Previously we measured honey bee foraging dynamics for two years (2018-2019) by waggle dance decoding at three geographically distanced sites in Virginia (Blacksburg, Winchester, Suffolk), consisting of different dominant landcover types. Here we use those data on where and when honey bees were finding profitable resources throughout the season to predict the success of a non-Apis bee in these same landscapes. Alfalfa leafcutting bees (Megachile rotundata) are managed, polylectic, solitary, cavity-nesting bees that are widely naturalized in North America. We selected M. rotundata as a model organism to validate the honey bee foraging data because they share some characteristics with other cavity nesting wild bees, but they are a tractable study system because they are commercially reared and can be purchased for study. At each of the three sites, we installed 15 nest box stations, each stocked with nesting materials and 160 M. rotundata cocoons, at varying distances and directions from the original honey bee hive locations. Most importantly, nest box stations were distributed across a range of honey bee foraging propensities, calculated as the mean foraging probability determined from our honey bee waggle dance decoding data, within a 300m buffer around each nest box. We hypothesized that honey bee foraging probability would positively correlate with M. rotundata cocoon production and survival. For two years (2021-2022) from May-August, we monitored the nest boxes and also collected data on the relative abundance of floral resources at each of the 15 stations per site. At the end of each season, we collected nesting materials and counted both M. rotundata along with incidental (i.e., non-M. rotundata) wild bee cocoons. M. rotundata cocoon productivity varied by location (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 311.0, df = 2, p < 0.001), with Winchester as the most productive location (mean cocoon count (95% CI): 26.2 (23.7 to 28.9)), followed by Blacksburg (20.4 (18.2 to 22.9)), and Suffolk (4.4 (3.5 to 5.5)). The abundance of clover, both red and white, had a significant positive effect on ALCB productivity (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 778.36, < 0.001). On the other hand, the number of ALCB cocoons decreased significantly with the count of Trypoxylon wasp cocoons present in the nest boxes (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 54.37, < 0.001). Most importantly, we found that there was an overall negative relationship between honey bee foraging probability and alfalfa leafcutting bee cocoon productivity ((log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 55.42, < 0.001), where areas of higher honey bee foraging probability were associated with lower levels of alfalfa leafcutting bee productivity. This surprising result is in the opposite direction to our original hypothesis that preferred honey bee foraging areas in the landscape, as indicated by decoded waggle dance data, would be positively correlated with alfalfa leafcutting bee productivity. These data demonstrate that while honey bees may indeed act as bioindicators to other insect pollinators, this indication will likely be species and context specific and may even specify the opposite direction. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / Recent challenges facing the beekeeping industry have laid bare the fragility of honey bee pollination services, highlighted the role of other bee pollinators, and sparked widespread concern over the effect of declining bee populations on food security and continued ecosystem function and services. Both honey bees and wild bees face similar challenges including pesticides, parasites, pests, and poor nutrition from a lack of flowers in the landscape. Therefore, it is critical that we develop methods to evaluate the landscape's ability to feed bees in order to help them and other pollinators continue providing essential pollination services. There are many ways to measure the quality of a landscape for pollinators, but honey bees offer a unique opportunity to do the work for us: honey bees communicate the location of where they find food to their nestmates through a behavior called the waggle dance. Waggle dances can be observed and the dance language decoded so that we can determine the location of high-quality food sources. Previously, we used honey bee waggle dance data to map where bees are collecting food in three geographically distinct sites (Blacksburg, Winchester, and Suffolk, Virginia). These data allow us to understand where, when, and on what flowers the honey bees were feeding. The goal of this project was to investigate the relationship between honey bee foraging and non-honey bee success across the same three landscapes to determine if honey bees can be used as bioindicators of habitat quality for other bees. We chose Alfalfa leafcutting bees (Megachile rotundata) as a model organism because they are solitary, cavity-nesting bees, like the majority of wild bees. However, as managed pollinators, Alfalfa leafcutting bees (ALCBs) can be purchased commercially and retained in nesting boxes to allow us to gather productivity and survival data, which we can then compare to what the dancing honey bees previously told us about where and when they can collect good food. We hypothesized that areas of the landscape that honey bees had indicated where higher quality would correlate to better ALCB cocoon production and survival. We placed wooden nest boxes, 15 per site, stocked with ALCBs across the same landscapes for which honey bee data had been collected in the previous years and measured their productivity in terms of cocoons produced at each site. ALCB productivity varied by location, with Winchester as the most productive location (mean ALCB count (95% CI): 26.2 (23.7 to 28.9)), followed by Blacksburg (20.4 (18.2 to 22.9)), and Suffolk (4.4 (3.5 to 5.5)). The abundance of clover, both red and white, had a significant positive effect on ALCB productivity (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 778.36, < 0.001). On the other hand, the number of ALCB cocoons decreased significantly with the count of a non ALCB nest box resident, Trypoxylon wasp cocoons, present in the nest box (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 54.37, < 0.001). Surprisingly, we found that there was an overall negative relationship between honey bee foraging probability and alfalfa leafcutting bee cocoon production (log-likelihood ratio test: χ2 = 55.42, < 0.001). In this study, across three different field sites with varying landscapes in Virginia, areas of higher honey bee foraging probability were associated with lower levels of alfalfa leafcutting bee productivity.