Foraging activities of stingless bee (Meliponula bocandei) on Mikanai cordifolia in Kalinzu Central forest reserve, Uganda.

Abstract

Stingless bees are social bees which lack a functional sting and are sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines. They occur in perennial colonies and about 500 species inhabit the world’s tropical and subtropical climates. In Uganda, stingless bees such as Meliponula bocandei were recently domesticated for their products and services. Following anecdotal reports of Meliponula bocandei on flowers of Mikania cordifolia, foraging activities of this bee were investigated in Kalinzu central forest reserve, Bushenyi district. To achieve this, focal observation method was used to count the number of flowers visited by the bees per minute after intervals of five (05) minutes. The flowers of plants under study were categorized based on position into bottom, middle and top strata along which stingless bee visits were recorded. Data was collected for two days between 09:00am and 6:00 pm. The findings indicate a significant difference in the visitation rates by M. bocondei at different times of the day (F (2, 33) = 9.376, p-value = 0.000596) with the mean visitation rates in the morning (1.50±0.91) being significantly higher than the mean visitation rates in the early afternoon (0.9583±0.4981) and in the late afternoon (0.33±0.49). Also, there was a significant difference in the visitation rates by M. bocondei on flowers at different positions (F (2,147) =32.29, p-value =2.37e-12) with the mean visitation rates at the top (0.72±0.45) being significantly higher than the mean visitation rates at the middle (0.28±0.45) and at the bottom (0.08±0.27). The findings suggest that M. cordifolia flowers are visited more by M. bocondei in the morning and flowers at the top are visited most. More studies are needed to establish the contribution of this plant to honey and pollen produced by this bee.