This research was carried out to evaluate the foraging behaviour of Apis mellifera\nand Scaptotrigona bipunctata and its relationship with environmental\nvariables in Dombeya wallichii considering the following aspects: 1) Type of\nresource harvested, 2) Visitation rate, 3) Length of visit, 4) sugar concentration\nin the stored nectar in the honey crop of A. mellifera and secreted by the\nflower and 5) floral constancy. Both species collected mainly nectar, with a\nvisitation rate of 4.2 flowers for A. mellifera and 1.1 flowers for S. bipunctata\nand visit length of 9.2 and 34.2 seconds, respectively. The sugar concentration\nhad a positive relationship with temperature and luminosity, with mean values\nof 12.3% in the nectar and 14.2% in the honey crop. Bees were classified\nby specialists because the pollen of D. wallichii was predominant in the pollen\nbasket, but the pollen of Emilia sonchifolia and Raphanus sativus was also\nfound. These results suggest that the species under study take advantage of\nthe resources offered by D. wallichii , therefore, this species is an important\nsource for the maintenance of the bees in the season of lack of food.
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