Academic Journal
View in EDS
Linked Full Text

Orchid bee diversity responds positively to forest cover and landscape heterogeneity in the Brazilian Savanna.

Bibliographic Details
Title: Orchid bee diversity responds positively to forest cover and landscape heterogeneity in the Brazilian Savanna.
Authors: de Sousa FG; Animal Biodiversity Program, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, 74001-970, GO, Brazil. fernandags.bio@gmail.com., Bergamini LL; Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Gerência de Meio Ambiente e Geografia, IBGE Ecological Reserve, BR-251 Highway, Km 46, Brasília, DF, Brazil., Diniz MF; Center for Conservation & Sustainability, Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, MRC 705, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013‑7012, USA., De M Júnior P; The MetaLand: Theory, Metacommunity, and Landscape Ecology Lab, Ecology Department, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, 74001-970, GO, Brazil., Collevatti RG; Laboratório de Genética & Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, 74001-970, GO, Brazil., Silva DP; Conservation Biogeography and Macroecology Lab, Instituto Federal de Goiás, Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil.
Source: Oecologia [Oecologia] 2026 Jun 21; Vol. 208 (7). Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 21.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Language: English
Journal Info: Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: Germany NLM ID: 0150372 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1432-1939 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00298549 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Oecologia Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Original Publication: Berlin ; New York, Springer.
MeSH Terms: Biodiversity* , Forests*, Animals ; Brazil ; Bees ; Grassland ; Ecosystem ; Pollination
Abstract: Habitat loss and degradation can cause population declines in bee species, mainly through agricultural and cattle-raising pasture activities, resulting in the loss of ecosystem services. Understanding how pollinator biodiversity responds to anthropogenic changes is necessary to dimension and mitigate the impact of the human effect on the ecological and agricultural functions performed by this group. We aimed to evaluate how landscape structure (composition and configuration) influences orchid bee diversity (i.e., species richness, abundance, and species composition) in the Brazilian Cerrado Savanna. We collected the orchid bee community with chemical baits in natural patches (forest or savanna), patch edges, and matrix (agriculture or pasture) sites in 20 landscapes. We used variance inflation factor and generalized linear mixed models to evaluate the effects of landscape structure at different spatial scales on species richness, and abundance, and PERMANOVA on species composition. We sampled 728 euglossine bees from four genera and 14 species. Species richness and abundance were explained by forest cover, compositional heterogeneity, and shape of patches. Species composition was explained by forest cover. The increase in natural area and landscape diversity favored the assemblages of orchid bees. The findings of our study highlight the importance of forest cover and landscape compositional heterogeneity in supporting the species richness and abundance of orchid bees in the Brazilian Cerrado.
(© 2026. The Author(s).)
Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable.
References: Aguiar AP, Carneiro GM, Araujo GP (2015) Landscape structure and species diversity in a fragmented Brazilian Amazon Forest. Landscape Ecol 30(6):1079–1090.
Alencar A, Shimbo JZ, Lenti F et al (2020) Mapping three decades of changes in the Brazilian savanna native vegetation using Landsat data processed in the Google Earth engine platform. Remote Sens 12(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12060924.
Antonini Y, Silveira RA, Oliveira M, Martins C, Oliveira R (2016) Orchid bee fauna responds to habitat complexity on a savanna area (Cerrado) in Brazil. Sociobiology 63(2):819–825. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v63i2.1038.
Bates D, Mächler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2015) Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software 67(1):1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01.
Bembé B (2007) The influence of habitat fragmentation on the biodiversity of tropical forest fragments. Landscape Ecol 22(3):487–498.
Betts MG, Hadley AS, Kormann U (2019) The landscape ecology of pollination. Landscape Ecol 34:961–966.
Borges RC, Padovani K, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL, Giannini TC (2020) A dataset of multi-functional ecological traits of Brazilian bees. Sci Data 7(1):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0461-3. (PMID: 10.1038/s41597-020-0461-3)
Boscolo D, Tokumoto PM, Ferreira PA, Ribeiro JW, Santos JS (2017) Positive responses of flower-visiting bees to landscape heterogeneity depend on functional connectivity levels. Perspective Ecol Conserv 15(1):18–24.
Briggs HM, Perfecto I, Brosi BJ (2013) The Role of the Agricultural Matrix: Coffee Management and Euglossine Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini) Communities in Southern Mexico. Environ Entomol 42(6):1210–1217. (PMID: 24128972)
Brosi BJ (2009) The effects of forest fragmentation on euglossine bee communities (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini). Biol Conserv 142(2):414–423.
Brosi BJ, Daily GC, Shih TM, Oviedo F, Durán G (2008) The effects of forest fragmentation on bee communities in tropical countryside. J Appl Ecol 45:773–783.
Brow M, Paxton RJ (2009) Effects of habitat fragmentation on pollinator communities in temperate regions. Landscape Ecol 24(9):1269–1281.
Brown BV (1992) The role of insect pollinators in tropical forests. Landscape Ecol 15(3):225–232.
Burnham KP, Andersen DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: A practical information-theoretic approach. Springer.
Cândido MEMB, Morato EF, Storck-Tonon D et al (2018) Effects of fragments and landscape characteristics on the orchid bee richness (Apidae: Euglossini) in an urban matrix, southwestern Amazon. J Insect Conserv 22:475–486. (PMID: 10.1007/s10841-018-0075-7)
Carneiro LS, Aguiar WM, Priante CF et al (2021) The Interplay Between Thematic Resolution, Forest Cover, and Heterogeneity for Explaining Euglossini Bees Communit in an Agricultural Landscape. Front Ecol Evol 9:1–13.
Chao A, Chazdon RL, Colwell RK, Shen T (2005) A new statistical approach for assessing similarity of species composition with incidence and abundance data. Ecol Lett 8(8):148–159.
Coswosk JA, Ferreira RA, Soares EDG et al (2018) Responses of Euglossine Bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Euglossina) to an Edge-Forest Gradient in a Large Tabuleiro Forest Remnant in Eastern Brazil. Neotropic Entomol 47(4):447–456.
da Silva Carneiro L, Ribeiro MC, Aguiar WM de, de Fátima Priante C, Frantine-Silva W, Gaglianone MC (2022) Orchid bees respond to landscape composition differently depending on the multiscale approach. Landsc Ecol 37(6):1587–601. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01442-8.
DeFries RS, Foley JA, Asner GP (2004) Land-use choices: balancing human needs and ecosystem function. Front Ecol Environ 2(5):249–257.
Dicks LV, Breeze TD, Ngo HT et al (2021) A global-scale expert assessment of drivers and risks associated with pollinator decline. Nat Ecol Evol 5(10):1453–1461. (PMID: 10.1038/s41559-021-01534-934400826)
Dirzo R, Young HS, Galetti M et al (2014) Defaunation in the Anthropocene. Science 345(6195):401–406. (PMID: 25061202)
Dormann CF, Elith J, Bacher S et al (2013) Collinearity: a review of methods to deal with it and a simulation study evaluating their performance. Ecography 36:27–46.
Dressler RL (1982) The ecological consequences of fragmentation in tropical rainforests. Ecol Monogr 52(2):175–200.
Fahrig L (2003) Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 34:487–515. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132419.
Fahrig L (2013) Rethinking patch size and isolation effects: the habitat amount hypothesis. J Biogeogr 40:1649–1663.
Fahrig L (2017) Ecological Responses to Habitat Fragmentation Per Se. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 48:1–23.
Ferrari RR, Melo GAR (2014) Deceiving colors: recognition of color morphs as separate species in orchid bees is not supported by molecular evidence. Apidologie 45:641–652. (PMID: 10.1007/s13592-014-0280-7)
Forero-Medina GA, Vieira MV (2007) Conectividade funcional e a importância da interação organismo-paisagem. Oecologia Bras 11:493–502.
Giannini TC, Cordeiro GD, Freitas BM, Saraiva AM, Imperatriz-Fonseca VL (2015) The dependence of crops for pollinators and the economic value of pollination in Brazil. J Econ Entomol 108(3):849–857. (PMID: 26470203)
Gimenes M (2002) Interactions between bees and Ludwigia elegans (Camb.) Hara 103 (Onagraceae) flowers at different altitudes in São Paulo, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 104(19):681–689.
Goulson D, Nicholls E, Botías C et al (2015) Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasities, pesticides, and lack of flowers. Science 347(6229):1255957. (PMID: 25721506)
Grassi G, House JI, Dentener F et al (2017) The key role of forests in meeting climate targets requires science for credible mitigation. Nat Clim Change 7:220–226.
Gutiérrez-Chacón C, Valderrama-A C, Klein A-M (2020) Biological corridors as important habitat structures for maintaning bees in a tropical fragmented landscape. J Insect Conserv 24(1):187–197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00205-2. (PMID: 10.1007/s10841-019-00205-2)
Hadley AS, Betts MG (2012) The effects of landscape fragmentation on pollination dynamics: absence of evidence not evidence of absence. Biol Rev 87:526–544. (PMID: 22098594)
Hass AL, Kormann UG, Tscharntke T, Clough Y, Baillod AB, Sirami C, Fahrig L, Martin JL, Baudry J, Bertrand C, Bosch J, Brotons L, Burel F, Georges R, Giralt D, Marcos-García MÁ, Ricarte A, Siriwardena G, Batáry P (2018) Landscape configurational heterogeneity by small-scale agriculture, not crop diversity, maintains pollinators and plant reproduction in western Europe. Proc Biol Sci 285(1872):20172242. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2242.
Heltshe JF, Forrester NE (1983) Estimating Species Richness Using the Jackknife Procedure. Biometrics 39(1):1–11. https://doi.org/10.2307/2530802.
Hesselbarth MHK, Sciaini M, With KA et al (2019) landscapemetrics: an open-source R tool to calculate landscape metrics. Ecography 42(10):1648–1657.
Hinojosa-Díaz I, Engel M (2014) Revision of the orchid bee subgenus Euglossella (Hymenoptera: Apidae), part II: The viridis and mandibularis species groups. Journal of Melittology https://doi.org/10.17161/jom.v0i36.4777.
Hipólito J, Boscolo D, Viana BF (2018) Landscape and crop management strategies to conserve pollination services and increase yields in tropical coffee farms.Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 256:218–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.09.038.
Huais PY (2018) multifit: an R function for multi-scale analysis in landscape ecology. Landscape Ecol 33:1023–1028. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0657-5.
Jackson DA, Fahrig L (2015) The role of landscape configuration in conservation planning. Landscape Ecol 30(6):975–988.
Janzen DH (1971) Euglossine bees as long-distance pollinators of tropical plants. Science 171(3976):203–205. (PMID: 17751330)
Juncá FA, Funch L, Rocha W (Eds) (2005) Biodiversidade e conservação da Chapada Diamantina. Brasília, DF: Ministério do Meio Ambiente. 411 p. ISBN 85-87166-78-6.
Kennedy CM, Lonsdorf E, Neel MC et al (2013) A global quantitative synthesis of local and landscape effects on wild bee pollinators in agroecosystems. Ecol Lett 16:584–599. (PMID: 23489285)
Kevan PG, Baker HG (1983) Insects as flower visitors and pollinators. Annual Review of Entomology 28:407–453. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.en.28.010183.002203.
Klein AM, Vaissière BE, Cane JH, Steffan-Dewenter I, Cunningham SA, Kremen C, Tscharntke T (2007) Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc Biol Sci 274(1608):303-13. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3721.
Klink CA, Machado RB (2005) A conservação do Cerrado brasileiro. Megadiversidade 1(1):147–155.
Lambin EF, Meyfroidt P (2011) Global land use change, economic globalization, and the looming land scarcity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108:3465–3472.
Long JA (2022) jtools: Analysis and Presentation of Social Scientific Data. R package version 2.2.0. https://cran.r-project.org/package=jtools.
Long JA (2024) Tools for summarizing and visualizing regression models. https://jtools.jacob-long.com/articles/summ.html.
Lundgren R, Totland O, Lázaro A (2016) Experimental simulation of pollinator decline causes community-wide reductions in seedling diversity and abundance. Ecology 97(6):1420–1430. (PMID: 27459773)
McGarigal K, Cushman SA, Ene E (2012) FRAGSTATS v4: spatial pattern analysis program for categorical and continuous maps. Computer software program produced by the authors at. the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Milet-Pinheiro P, Schlindwein C (2005) Do euglossine males (Apidae, Euglossini) leave tropical rainforest to collect fragrances in sugar cane monocultures? Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 22(4):853–858.
Mittermeier RA, Myers N, Thomsen JB et al (1998) Biodiversity Hotspots and Major Tropical Wilderness Areas: Approaches to Setting Conservation Priorities. Conserv Biol 12(3):516–520.
Mittermeier RA, Gil PR, Hoffman M, Pilgrim J, Brooks T, Mittermeier CG, Lamoreux J, da Fonseca GAB (2005) Hotspots Revisited: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions. Conservation International, Washington, D.C.
Moreira EF, Boscolo D, Viana BF (2015) Spatial Heterogeneity Regulates Plant-Pollinator Networks across Multiple Landscape Scales. PLoS ONE 10(4):e0123628. (PMID: 258562934391788)
Moreira EF, Santos RLS, Silveira MS et al (2017) Influence of landscape structure on Euglossini composition in open vegetation environments. Biota Neotrop 17(1):e20160294.
Moura MO, Schlindwein C (2009) Pollinator networks in fragmented ecosystems. Oecologia 161(2):347–356.
Moure JS, Melo GAR (2022) Euglossini Latreille, 1802. In Moure JS, Urban D & Melo GER (Orgs). Catalogue of Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in the Neotropical Region – online version. Availabe at https://www.moure.cria.org.br/catalogue.
Nemésio A (2009) Bee diversity and ecology in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Ecol Entomol 34(4):405–413.
Nemésio A, Silveira FA (2007) Patterns of pollinator diversity in Brazilian ecosystems. Biol Conserv 137(4):512–520.
Oksanen FJ, Blanchet G, Friendly M et al (2017) Vegan: Community Ecology Package. R package version 2.4-4.
Ollerton J (2017) Pollinator Diversity: Distribution, Ecological Function, and Conservation. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 48:353–376.
Ollerton J, Winfree R, Tarrant S (2011) How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals? Oikos 120(3):321–326.
Paradis E, Schliep K (2019) ape 5.0: an environment for modern phylogenetics and evolutionary analyses in R. Bioinformatics 35:526–528. (PMID: 30016406)
Patton DR (1975) The role of corridors in wildlife conservation. J Wildl Manage 39(4):431–436.
Pokorny T, Loose D, Dyker G, Quezada-Euán JG, Eltz T (2015) Dispersal ability of male orchid bees and direct evidence for long-range flights. Apidologie 46:224–237. (PMID: 10.1007/s13592-014-0317-y)
Potts SG, Biesmeijer JC, Kremen C, Neumann P, Schweiger O, Kunin WE (2010) Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 25(6):345–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2010.01.007.
Powell SF, Powell AL (1987) Population Dynamics of Male Euglossine Bees in Amazon Forest Fragments. Biotropica 19(2):176–179.
R Core Team (2024) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
Ramírez S, Ospina M, Dressler R (2002) Abejas euglosinas (Hymenoptera: Apidae) de la Región Neotropical: Listado de especies con notassobre su biología. Biota Colombiana 3(1):7–118.
Rausch L et al (2019a) The impact of landscape fragmentation on biodiversity in tropical habitats. Glob Change Biol 25(7):2176–2189.
Rausch LL, Gibbs HK, Schelly I et al (2019b) Soy expansion in Brazil’s Cerrado. Conserv Lett 12(6):e12671.
Rebêlo JMM, Moure JS (1995) As espéces de Euglossa Latreille do nordeste de São Paulo (Apidae, Euglossinae). Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 12(3):445–466.
Ribeiro JF, Walter BMT (1998) Fitofisionomias do bioma Cerrado. In: Sano SM, Almeida SP (eds) Cerrado: ambiente e flora. Embrapa Cerrado, Brasília, DF, pp 89–166.
Rosa JFR, Ramalho M, Monteiro D et al (2015) Permeability of matrices of agricultural crops to Euglossina bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in the Atlantic Rain Forest. Apidologie, 46:691–702.
Rosa JFR, Ramalho M, Arias MC (2016) Functional connectivity and genetic diversity of Eulaema atleticana (Apidae, Euglossina) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Corridor: assessment of gene flow. Biotropica 48(4):509–517.
Roubik DW (2004) Sibling Species of Glossura and Glossuropoda in the Amazon Region (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini). J Kansas Entomol Soc 77(3):235–253.
Roubik DW, Hanson PE (2004) Orchid bees of tropical America: biology and field guide. Heredia, Costa Rica. INBio Press. 370:124.
Sano EE, Rosa R, Brito JLS et al (2010) Land cover mapping of the tropical savanna region in Brazil. Environ Monit Assess 166:113–124. (PMID: 10.1007/s10661-009-0988-419504057)
Saura S (2020) The Habitat Amount Hypothesis implies negative effects of habitat fragmentation on species richness. J Biogeogr 48(1):11–22.
Silva JM, Bates J (2002) Biogeographic patterns and conservation in the South American Cerrado: A tropical Savanna. Bioscience 52(3):225–233.
Silva DP, De Marco PJ (2014) No Evidence of Habitat Loss Affecting the Orchid Bees Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier and Eufriesea auriceps Friese (Apidae: Euglossini) in the Brazilian Cerrado Savanna. Neotrop Entomol 43(6):509–518. (PMID: 10.1007/s13744-014-0244-727194058)
Silva DP, Aguiar AJC, Melo GAR et al (2013) Amazonian species within the Cerrado savanna: new records and potential distribution for Aglae caerulea (Apidae: Euglossini). Apidologie 44:673–683. (PMID: 10.1007/s13592-013-0216-7)
Silva DP, Varela S, Nemésio A et al (2015) Adding Biotic Interactions into Paleodistribution Models: A Host–Cleptoparasite Complex of Neotropical Orchid Bees. PLoS ONE 10(6):e0129890. (PMID: 260699564466402)
Sousa FG, Santos JS, Martello F et al (2022) Natural habitat cover and fragmentation per se influence orchid-bee species richness in agricultural landscapes in the Brazilian Cerrado. Apidologie 53:1–13. (PMID: 10.1007/s13592-022-00925-6)
Steffan-Dewenter I, Münzenberg U, Bürger C et al (2002) Scale-Dependent Effects of Landscape Context on Three Pollinator Guilds. Ecology 83(5):1421–1432.
Storck-Tonon D, Peres CA (2017) Forest patch isolation drives local extinctions of Amazonian orchid bees in a 26 years old archipelago. Biol Conserv 214:270–277.
Vilhena P dos S, Rocha L de J, Garófalo CA (2017) Male Orchid Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini) in Canopy and Understory of Amazon Várzea Floodplain Forest. I. Microclimatic, Seasonal and Faunal Aspects. ociobiology 64(2):191–201. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.
Wikelski M, Moxley J, Eaton-Mordas A et al (2010) Large-Range Movements of Neotropical Orchid Bees Observed via Radio Telemetry. PLoS ONE 5(5):e10738. (PMID: 205208132877081)
Winfree R, Bartomeus I, Cariveau DP (2011) Native Pollinators in Anthropogenic Habitats. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 42:1–22.
Winkler K, Fuchs R, Rounsevell M et al (2021) Global land use changes are four times greater than previously estimated. Nat Communicatins 12(2501):1–10.
Zuur AF, Ieno EN, Walker NJ et al (2009) Mixed Effects Models and Extensions in Ecology with R. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Brazilian Cerrado; Euglossine; Fragmentation; Habitat loss; Pollinators
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20260621 Date Completed: 20260622 Latest Revision: 20260726
Update Code: 20260726
PubMed Central ID: PMC13284026
DOI: 10.1007/s00442-026-05920-7
PMID: 42324380
Database: MEDLINE
Description
ISSN:1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/s00442-026-05920-7