title: Bees for development: Brazilian survey reveals how to optimize stingless beekeeping.
abstract: Stingless bees are an important asset to assure plant biodiversity in many natural ecosystems, and fulfill the growing agricultural demand for pollination. However, across developing countries stingless beekeeping remains an essentially informal activity, technical knowledge is scarce, and management practices lack standardization. Here we profited from the large diversity of stingless beekeepers found in Brazil to assess the impact of particular management practices on productivity and economic revenues from the commercialization of stingless bee products. Our study represents the first large-scale effort aiming at optimizing stingless beekeeping for honey/colony production based on quantitative data. Survey data from 251 beekeepers scattered across 20 Brazilian States revealed the influence of specific management practices and other confounding factors over productivity and income indicators. Specifically, our results highlight the importance of teaching beekeepers how to inspect and feed their colonies, how to multiply them and keep track of genetic lineages, how to harvest and preserve the honey, how to use vinegar traps to control infestation by parasitic flies, and how to add value by labeling honey containers. Furthermore, beekeeping experience and the network of known beekeepers were found to be key factors influencing productivity and income. Our work provides clear guidelines to optimize stingless beekeeping and help transform the activity into a powerful tool for sustainable development.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de São Paulo. Rua do Matão 321, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jaffé
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, 401 Biological Laboratories, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nathaniel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciências Animais, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Avenida Francisco Mota 572, Mossoró-RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Airton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torres Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciências Animais, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Avenida Francisco Mota 572, Mossoró-RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ulysses
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Madureira Maia
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Entomologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, Caixa Postal 1429, Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Betina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blochtein
authors.affiliation: Insecta Research Group, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Ambientais e Biológicas, UFRB, C. Postal: 118, Cruz das Almas-BA. Brazil.
authors.forename: Carlos Alfredo Lopes
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Pesquisas em Abelhas, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Avenida André Araújo 2936, Caixa Postal 478, Manaus-AM, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gislene Almeida
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Carvalho-Zilse
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zootecnia-CCA, Universidade Federal do Ceará. Campus Universitário do Pici, Bloco 808, Fortaleza-CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Breno Magalhães
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Belém-PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Semiárido, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Petrolina-PE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Márcia de Fátima
authors.initials: Mde F
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Belém-PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Giorgio Cristino
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Venturieri
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de São Paulo. Rua do Matão 321, São Paulo-SP, Brazil; Departamento de Ciências Animais, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Avenida Francisco Mota 572, Mossoró-RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vera Lucia
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Imperatriz-Fonseca
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees; D001938:Brazil; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
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