A PhD project is built by many hands and, above all, diverse ideas. With this in mind, I began my journey to Brazil, which included visits to communities from the Meli Network in the state of Maranhão. My doctoral research, conducted at the University of Bristol in partnership with various organisations in Brazil, including Meli and Embrapa, focuses on the behaviour of social bees, particularly stingless bees.

Author: Ana Paula Cipriano
Leia em Português.

By studying the behaviour and ecology of these important pollinators, we can identify ways to improve our management techniques in meliponiculture – an activity that is not only important for communities, thanks to the valuable products bees provide, but also for our environment and biodiversity.

In particular, my collaborators and I are interested in understanding the dynamics of workers between hives – a behaviour that may have significant implications for the health and survival of these colonies. When a worker bee leaves the nest to forage for food such as pollen and nectar, it carries information about the location of the nest and how to return to it correctly to store the collected resources. However, workers can sometimes make mistakes on their return, leading to a phenomenon known as drifting, where bees from neighbouring nests end up in the wrong hive. This behaviour is more common in crowded meliponaries, but there is still much to understand about the causes and consequences of drifting.

To understand this behaviour and how meliponaries are structured across Brazil, I carried out field visits to various institutions and communities. One of our main goals during the PhD is to identify the most effective ways to arrange hives within meliponaries in order to reduce the error rate among foraging workers, thereby improving their chances of successfully returning home. Drifting might have negative impacts, such as worker loss, disease transmission, and conflict between bees. To understand more about this behaviour, we need to test different strategies and learn from beekeepers about the challenges they face in managing their colonies.

The initial data collection for the study took place at Embrapa Meio Ambiente in Jaguariúna, São Paulo, using hives kept specifically for research, which allowed us to test our protocols and methodologies. In this project, we focused on the Mandaguari (Scaptotrigona depilis) and Mandaçaia (Melipona quadrifasciata) bees, which are commonly found in the southeastern region of Brazil. After completing this stage, I travelled to Maranhão to visit two communities: (i) Campo de Perizes, where I met Ana Maria, and (ii) the Guajajara Indigenous Territory, to see the bees kept by Jonas. Both are beekeepers and members of the Meli Network.

The opportunity to visit both communities was deeply enriching and offered me invaluable contact with another perspective on bee studies: traditional knowledge. The care and affection Ana Maria and Jonas show for their bees is truly special. They are both incredibly gentle in their management practices, treating each worker bee with great respect. For instance, when we opened particularly strong hives, it was common for the bees to begin flying around our heads. As a researcher, I’m quite used to this behaviour and usually continue the colony handling work, simply waving the bees away. However, I noticed that both Jonas and Ana Maria were extremely mindful of the bees flying around them, handling them gently to ensure they wouldn’t be harmed. Similarly, when closing the hives or extracting honey, Jonas took great care to check that no workers were on the edges of the boxes, ensuring none were crushed. I must admit that this behaviour stood out to me – although I am also careful and respectful with bees during my work, I felt an extra layer of attentiveness from Jonas and Ana Maria, which was beautiful to witness.

In both communities, the main species kept is the Uruçu (or Tiúba), Melipona fasciculata. Although I didn’t collect data during these visits, as the aim was to observe and learn, I still gained valuable insights into the behaviour of bees in Maranhão. I observed the foraging traffic at hive entrances and learned that during this rainy season, with fluctuating flowering patterns, worker activity tends to be lower.

For example, both beekeepers shared that the peak activity period for the bees is between October and November – an ideal time for honey harvesting. Furthermore, it is fascinating to see how bees serve both as a sustainable source of income and as a resource for health and wellbeing within these communities. Beekeeping provides not only financial benefits but also a sense of joy and purpose for both Jonas and Ana Maria, who expressed how much they enjoy working with stingless bees. They are also willing to learn more about these native pollinators and explore new ways to commercialise their products. Jonas, in particular, told me about a tradition in his community of using stingless bee honey to treat health conditions such as coughs, which works better than any pharmacy medicine.

The connections fostered by the Meli Network are remarkable in enabling this rich exchange of knowledge and perspectives. As a researcher, I gain immensely from engaging with beekeepers, and at the same time, it is inspiring to witness the care and dedication with which they protect our stingless bees. As we move forward, may we continue to work together in promoting a meliponiculture that is healthier and more responsible, rooted in a deeper understanding of the unique needs and behaviours of each species.