Promoting meliponiculture to achieve rural sustainable development

• Grant number: 12/13200-5
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): July 09, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca
• Grantee: Rodolfo Jaffé Ribbi
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 13/23661-2 - Landscape genetics to safeguard bee pollination services, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Beekeeping should be regarded as a prime development and conservation activity, because it can help poor rural communities earn an additional income, reduce the need to exploit natural resources, create incentives to protect the environment, assure crop yields, and maintain plant biodiversity in natural ecosystems. The main aim of this research project is to promote the profitable use of native stingless bees (meliponiculture) as a development tool, ensuring a sustainable future for people, bees and the environment. Native stingless bees gain a particular importance in the light of the current honeybee declines taking place throughout the world, because they could replace their introduced counterparts. However, meliponiculture has been far less popular than the use of the western honeybee (apiculture), and in consequence the sector is still poorly developed and technical skills are still scarce. By helping to maximize production and raise income, to characterize the genetic variability of stingless bee populations, and to improve communication between scientists and beekeepers; the proposed project aims to optimize meliponiculture and thereby contribute towards the sustainable development of rural areas and the conservation of natural ecosystems. The results obtained will be published in recognized peer reviewed journals of the field and presented in national and international conferences. In order to disseminate the results among beekeepers, a manual will be written and delivered to beekeeper's organizations and government institutions. In addition, a public website will be created to promote communication between scientists and beekeepers. Overall, this project will contribute towards the consolidation of a platform for future interdisciplinary research on stingless bees. (AU)

Scientific publications

(11)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

KWONG, WALDAN K.; MEDINA, LUIS A.; KOCH, HAUKE; SING, KONG-WAH; SOH, EUNICE JIA YU; ASCHER, JOHN S.; JAFFE, RODOLFO; MORAN, NANCY A. Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees. SCIENCE ADVANCES, v. 3, n. 3 MAR 2017. Web of Science Citations: 56.

SATURNI, FERNANDA TEIXEIRA; JAFFE, RODOLFO; METZGER, JEAN PAUL. Landscape structure influences bee community and coffee pollination at different spatial scales. AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, v. 235, p. 1-12, NOV 1 2016. Web of Science Citations: 10.

JAFFE, RODOLFO; POPE, NATHANIEL; ACOSTA, ANDRE L.; ALVES, DENISE A.; ARIAS, MARIA C.; DE LA RUA, PILAR; FRANCISCO, FLAVIO O.; GIANNINI, TEREZA C.; GONZALEZ-CHAVES, ADRIAN; IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, VERA L.; TAVARES, MARA G.; JHA, SHALENE; CARVALHEIRO, LUISA G. Beekeeping practices and geographic distance, not land use, drive gene flow across tropical bees. Molecular Ecology, v. 25, n. 21, p. 5345-5358, NOV 2016. Web of Science Citations: 12.

SANTIAGO, LEANDRO R.; FRANCISCO, FLAVIO O.; JAFFE, RODOLFO; ARIAS, MARIA C. Genetic variability in captive populations of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula. Genetica, v. 144, n. 4, p. 397-405, AUG 2016. Web of Science Citations: 4.

JAFFE, RODOLFO; CASTILLA, ANTONIO; POPE, NATHANIEL; IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, VERA LUCIA; METZGER, JEAN PAUL; ARIAS, MARIA CRISTINA; JHA, SHALENE. Landscape genetics of a tropical rescue pollinator. CONSERVATION GENETICS, v. 17, n. 2, p. 267-278, APR 2016. Web of Science Citations: 23.

GIANNINI, TEREZA C.; TAMBOSI, LEANDRO R.; ACOSTA, ANDRE L.; JAFFE, RODOLFO; SARAIVA, ANTONIO M.; IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, VERA L.; METZGER, JEAN PAUL. Safeguarding Ecosystem Services: A Methodological Framework to Buffer the Joint Effect of Habitat Configuration and Climate Change. PLoS One, v. 10, n. 6 JUN 19 2015. Web of Science Citations: 11.

KOFFLER, SHEINA; MENEZES, CRISTIANO; MENEZES, PAULO ROBERTO; PEIXOTO KLEINERT, ASTRID DE MATOS; IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, VERA LUCIA; POPE, NATHANIEL; JAFFE, RODOLFO. Temporal Variation in Honey Production by the Stingless Bee Melipona subnitida (Hymenoptera: Apidae): Long-Term Management Reveals its Potential as a Commercial Species in Northeastern Brazil. Journal of Economic Entomology, v. 108, n. 3, p. 858-867, JUN 2015. Web of Science Citations: 3.

JAFFE, RODOLFO; POPE, NATHANIEL; CARVALHO, AIRTON TORRES; MAIA, ULYSSES MADUREIRA; BLOCHTEIN, BETINA; LOPES DE CARVALHO, CARLOS ALFREDO; CARVALHO-ZILSE, GISLENE ALMEIDA; FREITAS, BRENO MAGALHAES; MENEZES, CRISTIANO; RIBEIRO, MARCIA DE FATIMA; VENTURIERI, GIORGIO CRISTINO; IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, VERA LUCIA. Bees for Development: Brazilian Survey Reveals How to Optimize Stingless Beekeeping. PLoS One, v. 10, n. 3 MAR 31 2015. Web of Science Citations: 30.

MENESES, H. M.; KOFFLER, S.; FREITAS, B. M.; IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, V. L.; JAFFE, R. Assessing Sperm Quality in Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Sociobiology, v. 61, n. 4, p. 517-522, DEC 2014. Web of Science Citations: 3.

JAFFE, R. An Updated Guide to the Study of Polyandry in Social Insects. Sociobiology, v. 61, n. 1, p. 1-8, MAR 2014. Web of Science Citations: 9.

JAFFE, RODOLFO; PIOKER-HARA, FABIANA C.; DOS SANTOS, CHARLES F.; SANTIAGO, LEANDRO R.; ALVES, DENISE A.; KLEINERT, ASTRID DE M. P.; FRANCOY, TIAGO M.; ARIAS, MARIA C.; IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, VERA L. Monogamy in large bee societies: a stingless paradox. NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN, v. 101, n. 3, p. 261-264, MAR 2014. Web of Science Citations: 16.