Nagamitsu Teruyoshi, Inoue Tamiji
Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Kukizaki, Ibaraki 305, Japan fax: +81-298-73-3795; e-mail:
Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsu, Shiga 520-01, Japan, , , , , , JP.
Oecologia. 1997 Apr;110(3):432-439. doi: 10.1007/s004420050178.
Interference competition by aggressive foraging often explains resource partitioning, but mechanisms contributing to partitioning have rarely been studied in Asian social bee guilds. Foraging of social bees at canopy flowers of Santiria laevigata (Burseraceae) and honey-water feeders was studied in a lowland mixed-dipterocarp forest in Sarawak, Malaysia. Four stingless bee species (Apidae, Meliponinae), Trigona canifrons, T.␣fimbriata, T. apicalis and T. melina, aggressively defended flower patches and feeders. At the flowers, T.␣canifrons excluded other bees only in the morning when nectar flow peaked. At the feeders, the aggression resulted in asymmetric interference competition, which produced a dominance hierarchy among seven social bee species. Interspecific partitioning of the feeders was detected in time and height but not quality. Only time of the first arrival after feeder presentation was negatively correlated with the dominance hierarchy: more aggressive species arrived at the feeders later than less aggressive species. This result suggests that a trade-off between searching ability and defensive ability at flower patches gives rise to resource partitioning in the social bee guild.
通过积极觅食进行的干扰竞争通常可以解释资源分配现象，但在亚洲群居蜜蜂群体中，导致资源分配的机制却鲜有研究。在马来西亚砂拉越的一个低地龙脑香混交林中，研究了群居蜜蜂在平滑山榄（橄榄科）树冠花朵和糖水喂食器上的觅食情况。四种无刺蜂（蜜蜂科，无刺蜂亚科），即犬额无刺蜂、缨无刺蜂、端无刺蜂和黑腹无刺蜂，积极捍卫花朵斑块和喂食器。在花朵处，犬额无刺蜂仅在花蜜流量达到峰值的早晨排斥其他蜜蜂。在喂食器处，这种攻击行为导致了不对称干扰竞争，在七种群居蜜蜂物种中形成了优势等级。在喂食器的种间分配在时间和高度上有体现，但在质量上没有。只有喂食器出现后首次到达的时间与优势等级呈负相关：攻击性更强的物种比攻击性较弱的物种更晚到达喂食器。这一结果表明，在花朵斑块处搜索能力和防御能力之间的权衡导致了群居蜜蜂群体中的资源分配。
