Floristic survey and palynological study in areas under the influence of the Fundão dam rupture in Mariana, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, with the objective of developing meliponiculture as an environmental recovery strategy / Levantamento florístico e estudo palinológico de áreas sob influência do rompimento da barragem de Fundão em Mariana, MG, Brasil, visando o desenvolvimento da Meliponicultura como estratégia para a recuperação ambiental

This study aimed to carry out a floristic survey in areas under influence of the rupture of the Fundão ore tailings dam, in the municipality of Mariana, Minas Gerais State, with the objective of pointing out potentially important species for meliponiculture production chain and contributing to the reintroduction of native plant species in the areas impacted by the mud. The survey was conducted in six sites, being three affected and three not affected by dam rupture. The collection of botanical material was carried out during ten months, between 2017 and 2018. The species were identified by a specialist and additional information regarding their life-form, phenology, popular name, floral resource availability, origin and endemism were obtained. The data obtained were systematized in a table, including the accession number of the Department of Botany Herbarium (Herbarium BHCB) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, where the vourchers were deposited. The survey was supplemented with a Phototeca containing photographs of acetolyzed pollen grains that were organized in three Brazilian Palynothecas. As a result, 153 plant species were collected, divided into 32 botanical families. The most representative families in both sites studied were Asteraceae and Fabaceae. It is recommended to replant the affected areas with several species of various families, considering that they are of great importance for native bees and for economic use and income generation through meliponiculture.

Este trabalho se propôs a realizar um levantamento florístico em áreas sob influência do rompimento da barragem de rejeitos de minério de Fundão em Mariana, Estado de Minas Gerais, com o objetivo de apontar espécies potencialmente importantes na cadeia produtiva da Meliponicultura e contribuir com a reintrodução de espécies vegetais nativas nas áreas impactadas pela lama. O levantamento foi realizado em seis locais, sendo três deles atingidos pelo rompimento da barragem e três deles não atingidos. As coletas dos materiais botânicos foram realizadas no período de 10 meses entre 2017 e 2018. As espécies foram identificadas por especialista e pesquisadas na literatura quanto a sua forma de vida, fenologia, nome popular, disponibilidade de recurso floral, origem e endemismo. As informações obtidas foram sistematizadas em uma tabela, constando o número do Herbário do Departamento de Botânica da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Herbário BHCB) onde as exsicatas das espécies estão tombadas. Complementou-se com uma fototeca dos grãos de pólen acetolisados que foram organizados em três Palinotecas nacionais. Foram amostradas 153 espécies vegetais, pertencentes a 32 famílias, sendo as mais representativas Asteraceae e Fabaceae, em ambos os locais estudados. Recomenda-se o replantio nas áreas afetadas de diversas espécies das várias famílias, pois são de suma importância para as abelhas nativas e para o uso econômico e geração de renda através da Meliponicultura.

European Foulbrood in stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) in Brazil: Old disease, renewed threat.

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are a group of bees with vestigial stings showing a high level of social organization. They are important pollinators in tropical and subtropical regions, and, in the last decades, stingless beekeeping has increased rapidly in Brazil. Bee-collected pollen and honey of Apis mellifera can be an important source of disease when used as supplements to feed stingless bee colonies, a common and increasing practice adopted by stingless beekeepers. Here, we aimed to investigate the presence of pathogens commonly found in honey bees in diseased colonies of Melipona species in Espírito Santo and São Paulo States, Southeast Brazil. We detected, for the first time, the bacterium Melissococcus plutonius and symptoms of European foulbrood in Melipona spp., associated with brood death and colony losses in some cases. In addition, we tested for the presence of the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae and the fungus Aschosphaera apis, as well as the six more common honey bee viruses in Brazil (BQCV, ABPV, DWV, KBV, IAPV, CBPV) and the microsporidia Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae. However, only one sample of brood was infected with N. ceranae and all other pathogens, with the exception of Melissococcus plutonius, were absent in the analyzed brood. Lastly, we looked for toxic pollen in all food fed to diseased colonies, but none was present.

Spores of Paenibacillus larvae, Ascosphaera apis, Nosema ceranae and Nosema apis in bee products supervised by the Brazilian Federal Inspection Service

ABSTRACT Due to their ecological and economic importance, honey bees have attracted much scientific attention, which has intensified due to the recent population decline of these insects in the several parts of the world. Among the factors related to these patterns, infection by pathogens are the most relevant, mainly because of the easy dissemination of these microorganisms. Although no zoonotic diseases are associated with these insects, the presence of infectious agents in bee products should still be considered because they play a role as disease dispersers, increasing the risk to animal health. Because of the possibility of dispersion of pathogens via bee products, this work aimed to identify the presence of spores of the pathogens Paenibacillus larvae, Ascosphaera apis and Nosema spp. in samples of honey, pollen and royal jelly that are registered with Brazil's Federal Inspection Service (S.I.F.) and commercially available in the state of São Paulo. Of the 41 samples of bee products analyzed, only one showed no contamination by any of these pathogens. N. ceranae and P. larvae had the highest prevalence considering all the samples analyzed (present in 87.80% and 85.37% of the total, respectively), with N. apis present in 26.83% and A. apis present in 73.17% of the samples. These results provide support for the formulation of government regulations for sanitary control of exotic diseases by preventing dispersion of pathogens, including through illegal importation, since local and international trade and the transfer of colonies between regions play important roles in the dispersion of these microorganisms.

Volatile compounds and palynological analysis from pollen pots of stingless bees from the mid-north region of Brazil

ABSTRACT Samburá is the botanical pollen nectar agglutinated by salivary secretions of bees. Stingless bee pollen samples were collected in three periods of the year in Monsenhor Gil town, PI, Brazil, for extraction of volatile constituents by different techniques, analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and the palynological analysis used to identify the dominant pollen. Among the volatile compounds identified, kaur-16-ene, methyl and ethyl hexadecanoate, methyl linoleate and heneicosane were identified more frequently in the studied parameters: period of sample collection and extraction techniques used. The palynological analysis identified the pollen of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. as the dominant pollen in all samples studied.