Abstract
Bees that visit flowers of open tomato crops were identified, their pollen collection behavior in the flowers was analyzed, and a new behavior was described. It was evaluated whether improved fruit quality results from additional pollination performed by bees and whether Paratrigona lineata (Lepeletier, 1836) and Apis mellifera L., 1758 are effective pollinators of tomatoes. The pollination experiments in the study were carried out on 2 commercial tomato fields located in the Triângulo Mineiro region (Southeastern Brazil). During the study, the licking was observed and described, a new bee behavior to collect pollen that results in fruit formation. A total of 1036 bees belonging to 14 species were sampled. Paratrigona lineata was the most abundant species (63%), followed by A. mellifera (26%) and Exomalopsis spp. (7%). The other species together accounted for the remaining 4%. In general, additional pollination performed by bees in flowers free for visitation (control group) generated fruits that were larger and heavier, with more seeds. Fruits originating from flowers of the single visit tests with P. lineata and A. mellifera showed, respectively, 30.4% and 20.9% more seeds when compared to tomatoes from bee exclusion treatments. Our results reinforce the importance of pollination services provided by bees in tomato crops and provide evidence that species that do not perform buzz pollination, such as P. lineata and A. mellifera, do act as pollinators of this crop.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Licking was observed as a pollen-collection behavior that produced fruit.
- Taxon
- tomato
Solanum lycopersicumt0 - Interactor
- bee
_Apis_mellifera_(female)_-_on_viburnum_tinus_flowers.jpg?width=60)
Apis melliferae0pollinator - Outcome
- fruit formatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_Apis_mellifera_(female)_-_on_viburnum_tinus_flowers.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“During the study, the licking was observed and described, a new bee behavior to collect pollen that results in fruit formation.”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
The survey sampled 1036 bees from 14 species.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Outcome
- bees belonging to 14 speciese0
- Value
- 1036 beese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A total of 1036 bees belonging to 14 species were sampled.”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
Paratrigona lineata was the most abundant bee species at 63%.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Interactor
- Paratrigona lineata
Paratrigona lineatae0pollinator - Outcome
- most abundant speciese0
- Value
- 63%e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Paratrigona lineata was the most abundant species (63%)”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
A. mellifera accounted for 26% of bees.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Interactor
- A. melliferaApis melliferae0pollinator
- Outcome
- A. melliferae0
- Value
- 26%e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A. mellifera (26%)”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
Exomalopsis spp. accounted for 7% of bees.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Interactor
- Exomalopsis spp.
Exomalopsise0pollinator - Outcome
- Exomalopsis spp.e0
- Value
- 7%e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Exomalopsis spp. (7%)”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
Other bee species together represented 4%.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Outcome
- other speciese0
- Value
- 4%e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The other species together accounted for the remaining 4%.”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
Additional bee pollination produced larger, heavier tomato fruit with more seeds than the control comparison.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- additional pollination performed by beese0
- Interactor
- beesAnthophilae0pollinator
- Outcome
- fruits that were larger and heavier, with more seedse0
- Direction
- larger and heavier, with more seedse0
- Comparator
- control groupe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“additional pollination performed by bees in flowers free for visitation (control group) generated fruits that were larger and heavier, with more seeds”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
A single P. lineata visit increased seed number by 30.4% relative to bee exclusion.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- single visit tests with P. lineatae0
- Interactor
- P. lineataParatrigona lineatae0pollinator
- Outcome
- seedse0
- Direction
- moree0
- Value
- 30.4%e0
- Comparator
- bee exclusion treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fruits originating from flowers of the single visit tests with P. lineata and A. mellifera showed, respectively, 30.4% and 20.9% more seeds when compared to tomatoes from bee exclusion treatments.”
t0“tomato flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
A single A. mellifera visit increased seed number by 20.9% relative to bee exclusion.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- single visit tests with P. lineata and A. melliferae0
- Interactor
- A. melliferaApis melliferae0pollinator
- Outcome
- seedse0
- Direction
- moree0
- Value
- 20.9%e0
- Comparator
- bee exclusion treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fruits originating from flowers of the single visit tests with P. lineata and A. mellifera showed, respectively, 30.4% and 20.9% more seeds when compared to tomatoes from bee exclusion treatments.”
t0“tomato flowers”
The same questions in other papers
pollination · Anthophila · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Results agree
2 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.