caa a22 4500 386380902 CHVBK 20180307112041.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e198902 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0266467400003242 doi S0266467400003242 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0266467400003242 Analysis of the niche of two sympatric species of Bombus (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in southeastern Brazil [Elektronische Daten] The sources of food and the width and overlap of the food niches of Bombus atratus and Bombus morio were determined by field observations and analysis of the pollen loads carried to the colonies by worker bees. The two species together utilized 50 flower species of which 26 were used by both. Solatium paniculatum (Solanaceae) and Psidium guajava (Myrtaceae) were the most frequently visited plants. The food niche width and niche evenness for both species were similar. The correlation between niche width and niche evenness was non-significant showing that evenness does not depend on niche width. In addition, there was no correlation between niche width and overlap, i.e. overlap varied independently of niche width. A high overlap of food sources utilized by the two species was observed in September, October and November. This may be explained in one of two ways: (a) if B. atratus and B. morio compete for resources, competition would be more intense during those three months; (b) the convergency of both species to the same plant species (Solatium paniculatum and Psidium guajava) would only result in more intensive competition if resources were limiting. However, at that period of the year resources are abundant, therefore although the values of overlap were high, competition need not have occurred. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989 Bombus nationallicence Brazil nationallicence bumble-bees nationallicence competition nationallicence evenness nationallicence flowering nationallicence food sources nationallicence niche width nationallicence overlap nationallicence Camillo Evandro Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirāo Preto-USP Ribeirāo Preto, S.P.- Brasil Garófalo Carlos Alberto Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirāo Preto-USP Ribeirāo Preto, S.P.- Brasil Journal of Tropical Ecology Cambridge University Press 5/1(1989-02), 81-92 0266-4674 5:1<81 1989 5 TRO https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467400003242 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467400003242 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Camillo Evandro Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirāo Preto-USP Ribeirāo Preto, S.P.- Brasil NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Garófalo Carlos Alberto Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirāo Preto-USP Ribeirāo Preto, S.P.- Brasil NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Tropical Ecology Cambridge University Press 5/1(1989-02), 81-92 0266-4674 5:1<81 1989 5 TRO CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge