| ABSTRACT Insect pollination has influenced the evolution and diversification of angiosperms. Consequently, knowing plants used as food sources by bees, the most important pollinator group, is the first step toward understanding how their ecological relationships works. Pollen source information is also highly relevant for bee management and associated fruit and seed production. Accordingly, to improve understanding of the trophic ecology of these bees and their relationships with native Amazonian plants the current study identified, quantified and compared pollen stored in nests of Frieseomelitta stingless bees along the Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil. A total of 31 pollen pots were sampled and found to contain 65 pollen types distributed across 52 genera and... |
