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 influe

SUBMITTER: Jaffe R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4380461 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature