Airton Torres Carvalho
@ufersa.edu.br
Professor Adjunto do Departamento de Biociências, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde
Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido
EDUCATION
Doutor em Ciências Biológicas pela UFPB, área de concentração Zoologia. Professor adjunto da UFERSA
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Animal Science and Zoology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science, Plant Science
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Edigleidson Fideles Valadares, Airton Torres Carvalho, and Celso Feitosa Martins
Informa UK Limited
Trigona spinipes is a generalist species of stingless bee that is dominant in many pollination networks and has a wide distribution in the tropics and subtropics of the Neotropics. This eusocial species builds exposed aerial nests in tree branches. Although some studies have been carried out on nest density, there are surprisingly few studies on its bionomy, and especially on the population size of the colonies. To survey the density and spatial patterns of nests of this stingless bee, three sites within the Northeast region in Brazil were studied, which ranged from urban to rural to forest habitats. A high density of nests was found in rural and urban sites, with 0.6 nests/ha and 0.4 nests/ha, respectively. In comparison, a lower density was found in the forest site, with 0.1 nests/ha in the edge and 0.03 nests/ha in the interior. Thus, the highest density of nests occurred in open areas. In the urban site, the nests showed a uniform distribution, while the distribution was aggregated in the rural site. The majority of nests were oriented so that the entrance faced the opposite direction to prevailing winds. Several aspects of the bionomy of 22 nests were sampled. The mean estimated total population size of colonies (immatures plus imagoes) was 38,813 (range 25,581–53,083) individuals, with 13,202 adults. Our results confirm that this species produces some of the largest colonies within the stingless bees, although lower than previously mentioned, emphasizing its importance in ecosystems of open neotropical areas.
Ulysses Madureira Maia, Rafael Cabral Borges, José Eustáquio dos Santos-Júnior, Victor Hugo Pedraça Dias, Airton Torres Carvalho, Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca, Guilherme Corrêa de Oliveira, and Tereza Cristina Giannini
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AbstractBees are important insects both environmentally and economically. Despite this, most bee species are poorly characterized regarding their morphology and nesting habits, which are relevant characteristics for planning management and conservation. Plebeia flavocincta is a stingless bee species that occurs in the Northeast region of Brazil and there is little knowledge about its morphology and nesting biology. Here, we morphologically characterize Plebeia flavocincta workers from 54 colonies and use seven colonies to describe the structure of the species’ nest. All nests were found in seasonally dry forest areas in different substrates, namely, hollow of native trees, wall, post, and wooden boxes. The structure of the species’ nest was detailed in terms of the number, shape, and area of the combs; brood cell size; size of food pots; nest size; and honey volume. Plebeia flavocincta is found in both natural and urban environments. The structure of the nest of Plebeia flavocincta is similar to that found in other species of the same genus. This is the first nest diagnosis study of the species. In addition, by establishing morphological data to recognize Plebeia flavocincta, this study provides useful information for management and conservation plans for the species.
Ulysses Madureira Maia, José Eustáquio dos Santos Júnior, Michele Molina, Juliana Stephanie Galaschi-Teixeira, Airton Torres Carvalho, Leonardo de Sousa Miranda, Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca, Guilherme Oliveira, and Tereza Cristina Giannini
Frontiers Media SA
Tropical dry forests are increasingly threatened by human activities. In Northeast Brazil, the Caatinga, an area of tropical dry forests surrounded by wetlands, is considered globally unique among these habitats. In this region, the stingless beePlebeia flavocinctais found in a variety of environmental, ecological, and demographic conditions. We aimed to characterizeP.flavocinctapopulations within its natural range through wing geometric morphometrics and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analyses. The characterization of population variability can clarify whether the species is morphologically and genetically diverse and whether populations are morphologically and genetically structured. We analyzed 673 samples by wing morphometry and 75 by cytochrome-b assays. Our results revealedP.flavocinctais genetically and morphologically diverse and populations are morphologically and genetically structured. Despite the differentiation between the two most morphologically distant populations, we verified a large overlap of morphological variation between all populations. The genetic analysis showed that the haplotypes were geographically structured into six clusters, four of which were located in coastal areas, and the remaining two in the drier inland region. The characterization ofP.flavocinctapopulations is an important step toward decision-making in programs for the protection, management, and sustainable use of this stingless bee in local breeding efforts.
Lílian Caesar, Anelise Martins Correa Lopes, Jefferson Nunes Radaeski, Soraia Girardi Bauermann, Enéas Ricardo Konzen, Jean-François Pombert, Aroni Sattler, Betina Blochtein, Airton Torres Carvalho, and Karen Luisa Haag
Informa UK Limited
Ulysses Madureira Maia, Leonardo de Sousa Miranda, Airton Torres Carvalho, Vera Lucia Imperatriz‐Fonseca, Guilherme Corrêa Oliveira, and Tereza Cristina Giannini
Ecology and Evolution Wiley
Wedson de Lima Tôrres, João Claudio Vilvert, Airton Torres Carvalho, Ricardo Henrique de Lima Leite, Francisco Klebson Gomes dos Santos, and Edna Maria Mendes Aroucha
Universidade Estadual de Maringa
The aim of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical quality and bioactive compounds of Apis mellifera honey as well as the alterations in the quality of A. mellifera honey after being used in the feeding of Melipona subnitida colonies. A. mellifera honeys were collected in apiaries, homogenised and used as feed for M. subnitida bees for 30 days. Every five days, honey samples were collected and evaluated for physicochemical characteristics and bioactive compounds. The treatments consisted of natural honeys of A. mellifera and M. subnitida and honey of M. subnitida bee after being fed with A. mellifera honey (modified honey). M. subnitida bees, when fed with honey from A. mellifera, modified some of its characteristics, such as moisture, reducing sugars, diastase activity, colour and flavonoid content. Natural and modified honeys of A. mellifera were similar to each other and different from M. subnitida honey in terms of minerals, free acidity, electrical conductivity, phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Treatments were similar in terms of sucrose, insoluble matter, hydroxymethylfurfural and water activity. In general, the quality attributes of the modified honey were closer to the honey of A. mellifera than to the natural M. subnitida honey.
Rodolfo Jaffé, Jamille C. Veiga, Nathaniel S. Pope, Éder C. M. Lanes, Carolina S. Carvalho, Ronnie Alves, Sónia C. S. Andrade, Maria C. Arias, Vanessa Bonatti, Airton T. Carvalho,et al.
Wiley
AbstractHabitat degradation and climate change are currently threatening wild pollinators, compromising their ability to provide pollination services to wild and cultivated plants. Landscape genomics offers powerful tools to assess the influence of landscape modifications on genetic diversity and functional connectivity, and to identify adaptations to local environmental conditions that could facilitate future bee survival. Here, we assessed range‐wide patterns of genetic structure, genetic diversity, gene flow, and local adaptation in the stingless bee Melipona subnitida, a tropical pollinator of key biological and economic importance inhabiting one of the driest and hottest regions of South America. Our results reveal four genetic clusters across the species’ full distribution range. All populations were found to be under a mutation–drift equilibrium, and genetic diversity was not influenced by the amount of reminiscent natural habitats. However, genetic relatedness was spatially autocorrelated and isolation by landscape resistance explained range‐wide relatedness patterns better than isolation by geographic distance, contradicting earlier findings for stingless bees. Specifically, gene flow was enhanced by increased thermal stability, higher forest cover, lower elevations, and less corrugated terrains. Finally, we detected genomic signatures of adaptation to temperature, precipitation, and forest cover, spatially distributed in latitudinal and altitudinal patterns. Taken together, our findings shed important light on the life history of M. subnitida and highlight the role of regions with large thermal fluctuations, deforested areas, and mountain ranges as dispersal barriers. Conservation actions such as restricting long‐distance colony transportation, preserving local adaptations, and improving the connectivity between highlands and lowlands are likely to assure future pollination services.
J. Gomes-Laranjo, L.-T. Dinis, T. Marques, M. Mota, A. Carvalho, T. Pinto, R. Anjos, L. Martins, G. Marques, M.J. Gaspar,et al.
International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS)
Climate change is ongoing but the magnitude, extent and duration of its impacts is far from being known and, in particular, its consequence on Earth’s life is still under study. This article presents an overview about many research lines aiming to increase the resilience of chestnut in climate changes frame. In Europe, chestnut is considered a Mediterranean crop, facing nowadays significant heat and drought stresses with important consequences on species health. So, modelling its production is fundamental to project the future production and species area redistribution according to the new expected climatic conditions. These models are being developed based on specific meteorological variables and indices well related to different aspects and stages of the vegetative cycle. For example, the best range of growing degree days (GDD) for better ‘Judia’’s chestnut production was found to be within the range 2000-2200°D (between May and October). At orchard level, it is also demonstrated the benefits of preserving a good soil herbaceous vegetation cover, complemented with smart irrigation which can prevent the reduction on nut production by about 25-50%, depending on the annual precipitation, and increase the edible mushroom production. Results also clearly demonstrated the importance of bees on pollination, where a decrease of about 70% was observed when they were absent. New hybrid rootstocks are being developed (e.g., ColUTAD) aiming to face the new climatic context, namely to maximize photosynthesis rate at high air temperature (T100 = 34°C). Also in ‘Judia’, such plasticity was observed between genotypes from cold and warm localities. Calibers ranged between 58 and 107 nuts kg-1. The tolerance against blight disease (Chryphonectria parasitica) also significantly varied. Finally, additional mineral nutrition with silicon seems to lead to a lower mortality rate and phenol’s inhibition as well as to an increased tolerance of the specie to thermal and hydric stress. The addition of silicon appears to have protective effect on trees against ink (Phytophthora cinnamomi) and blight diseases as well as to prepare and adapt trees for a future climate that is expected to be warmer and drier.
Tereza C. Giannini, Camila Maia-Silva, Andre L. Acosta, Rodolfo Jaffé, Airton T. Carvalho, Celso F. Martins, Fernando C. V. Zanella, Carlos A. L. Carvalho, Michael Hrncir, Antonio M. Saraiva,et al.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Elder Assis Miranda, Kátia Maria Ferreira, Airton Torres Carvalho, Celso Feitosa Martins, Carlo Rivero Fernandes, and Marco Antonio Del Lama
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Partamona seridoensis is an endemic stingless bee from the Caatinga, a Neotropical dry forest in northeastern Brazil. Like other stingless bees, this species plays an important ecological role as a pollinator. The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetic structure and evolutionary history of P. seridoensis across its current geographic range. Workers from 84 nests from 17 localities were analyzed for COI and Cytb genic regions. The population structure tests (Bayesian phylogenetic inference, AMOVA and haplotype network) consistently characterized two haplogroups (northwestern and eastern), with little gene flow between them, generating a high differentiation between them as well as among the populations within each haplogroup. The Mantel test revealed no isolation by distance. No evidence of a potential geographic barrier in the present that could explain the diversification between the P. seridoensis haplogroups was found. However, Pleistocene climatic changes may explain this differentiation, since the initial time for the P. seridoensis lineages diversification took place during the mid-Pleistocene, specifically the interglacial period, when the biota is presumed to have been more associated with dry conditions and had more restricted, fragmented geographical distribution. This event may have driven diversification by isolating the two haplogroups. Otherwise, the climatic changes in the late Pleistocene must not have drastically affected the population dynamics of P. seridoensis, since the Bayesian Skyline Plot did not reveal any substantial fluctuation in effective population size in either haplogroup. Considering its importance and the fact that it is an endemic bee from a very threatened Neotropical dry forest, the results herein could be useful to the development of conservation strategies for P. seridoensis.
R. Jaffé, Nathaniel S. Pope, A. T. Carvalho, U. M. Maia, B. Blochtein, C. Carvalho, G. A. Carvalho-Zilse, E. Freitas, C. Menezes, Márcia de Fátima Ribeiro,et al.
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Rodolfo Jaffé, Nathaniel Pope, Airton Torres Carvalho, Ulysses Madureira Maia, Betina Blochtein, Carlos Alfredo Lopes de Carvalho, Gislene Almeida Carvalho-Zilse, Breno Magalhães Freitas, Cristiano Menezes, Márcia de Fátima Ribeiro,et al.
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Paulo Milet-Pinheiro, Daniela Maria do Amaral Ferraz Navarro, Stefan Dötterl, Airton Torres Carvalho, Carlos Eduardo Pinto, Manfred Ayasse, and Clemens Schlindwein
Elsevier BV
Airton Torres Carvalho, Dirk Koedam, and Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca
Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana
Airton Torres Carvalho, Stefan Dötterl, and Clemens Schlindwein
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Clemens Schlindwein, Christian Westerkamp, Airton Torres Carvalho, and Paulo Milet-Pinheiro
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Mass flowering is a widespread blooming strategy among Neotropical trees that has been frequently suggested to increase geitonogamous pollination. We investigated the pollination ecology of the mass-flowering tree Handroanthus impetiginosus, addressing its breeding system, the role in pollination of different visitors, the impact of nectar robbers on fruit set and the function of colour changes in nectar guides. This xenogamous species is mainly pollinated by Centris and Euglossa bees (Apidae) seeking nectar, which are known to fly long distances. The flowers favour these bees by having: (1) a closed entrance in newly opened flowers which provides access only to strong bees capable of deforming the flower tube; and (2) a nectar chamber that is accessible only to long-tongued bees. Only first-day flowers with yellow nectar guides produce nectar. Pollinators prefer these flowers over second- and third-day flowers with orange and red nectar guides, respectively. Nectar robbers damage two-thirds of the flowers and this robbing activity decreases fruit set by half. We attribute the low fruit set of H. impetiginosus to the intense nectar robbing and hypothesize that visual signalling of nectar presence in newly opened (receptive) flowers reduces geitonogamy by minimizing bee visits to unrewarding (non-receptive) flowers. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 176, 396–407.
R. Oliveira, A. T. Carvalho, and C. Schlindwein
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Artur Campos Dália Maia, Marc Gibernau, Airton Torres Carvalho, Eduardo Gomes Gonçalves, and Clemens Schlindwein
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Reisla Oliveira, Airton Torres Carvalho, and Clemens Schlindwein
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Airton Torres Carvalho, Artur Campos Dalia Maia, Poliana Yumi Ojima, Adauto A. dos Santos, and Clemens Schlindwein
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AIRTON TORRES CARVALHO and CLEMENS SCHLINDWEIN
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Paulo Milet-Pinheiro, Airton Torres Carvalho, Peter G. Kevan, and Clemens Schlindwein
Elsevier BV