Dinâmica Reprodutiva e Influência das Áreas de Congregação de Zangões na Africanização de Apis mellifera (Apidae: Apini) no Brasil

MARTINEZ. O. A. Reproductive dynamics and the influence of drone congregation áreas on the Africanization process of Apis mellifera (APIDAE: APINI) in Brazil. 2006. 73p. Dissertação de Mestrado Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil The introduction of 33 African queens (Apis mellifera scutellata) in 1956, with the objective to initiate a program of selection and genetic improvement in Brazil, and with the posterior swarming of some of these queens, the Africanization process started. It gave origin to its polihybrid called "Africanized Bee". This process involved a series of biological and environmental factors, which interactions are not yet very clear. The mating process in honey bees occur in sites named Drone congregation Areas (DCAs), these places has been well studied in European bees, however, the research carried out and developed with Africanized bees has been few. Hence, there is a need to formulate and to develop new studies that better explain the reproductive behavior of these subspecies, determining or not the possible behavioral and reproductive characteristics, that had contributed for the fast expansion of the Africanized bees in the Americas. The flight behaviors of 10 queens (Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera africanized) and of 126 and 146 drones were observed respectively. 6 different locations in the Ribeirão Preto campus of the USP were observed, in which a high concentration of drones in the air was assumed, these points were analyzed by means of a caged mated queen hanged in a balloon filled with gas Helio and determined according to environmental characteristics. All the queens came back to its hive with the mating mark and initiated the laying process normally. The data disclose that there are not significant differences (α = 0.05%) when matching: The age of the queen at first flight (t=1,721; P=0,104); the number of flights that each queen carried out (T=79,5; P=0,789); the time of the mating fly (t=1,065; P=0,303); Temperature in the day of the mating (t=0,263; P=0,796) and the time of the day the mating flights are carried out (t = 0,0; P=1,0). The activity of flight for Carnic drones never started before 14:15 and 14:30 for Africanized drones confirming that there is not significant differences in the period of the day they perform their flights (t = -3,11E-015; P = 1,000). Out of the 6 observed locations, one of them did not attract drones to the lure, when the data (the approximate number of drones in the different DCAs) were analyzed statistically, the ANOVA did not find significant differences between the different DCAs (P = 0,109). When analyzing the speed of the wind (m/s), the ANOVA found significant differences between the different DCAs (P=<0,001), however not influencing the presence of drones in the lure. Data collected in this experiment show that the drones visit these areas during conditions of wind over 4 m/s, and in some occasions with winds of 8.1 m/s with approximately 30 drones reaching the lure, it was also observed in this experiment that the drones perform mating flights, even in cloudy days and with low luminosity. There was not observed a preference for determined DCAs, even more, the nature offers a lot of wide open spaces of DCAs guaranteeing and facilitating the mating of these bees in various places. Key-Words: Africanization, behavior of flight, Drone congregation areas, reproduction.