Vandervilson Alves Carneiro

ESTRATÉGIA DE FORRAGEAMENTO DE POLINIZADORES EM Galactia peduncularis (Benth.) Taub. (LEGUMINOSAE: PAPILIONOIDEA) NO PARQUE ESTADUAL DA SERRA DE CALDAS NOVAS (GO)

POLLINATOR FORAGING STRATEGY IN Galactia peduncularis (BENTH.) TAUB. (LEGUMINOSAE: PAPILIONOIDEA) IN THE PARQUE ESTADUAL DA SERRA DE CALDAS NOVAS BRAZIL The way the animals look for food is an important characteristic of their behavior. The optimal foraging theory is based on the existence of a balance between costs and benefits of these behavioral decisions. The present study aimed to evaluate the behavior of the pollinator in response to increased availability of floral resources. The experiment was conducted in a recently burned Cerrado area (Campo rupestre) in the State Park of Serra de Caldas Novas , located in the municipalities of Caldas Novas and Rio Quente Brazil. The species chosen to test our hypothesis was Galactia peduncularis (Benth.) Taub. (Leguminosae: Papilionoidea). 17 pairs of specimens were selected with a number of flowers, and the individuals of each pair were spaced by about 2m. In these pairs, one of them was considered the focal, and the other, the isolated. To test possible differences in pollination between isolated plants and focus, we performed two randomization tests: a test binary (TB), where all pairs were analyzed and verified the number of times where the focus on the individual floral visits were higher than the number of visits in isolated. According to the data analyzed, floral visitors preferred to use plants that could provide a greater amount of floral resources so that the number of visitors varied positively with the increment of flowers. Plants with many flowers can provide a greater amount of food in one location so that visitors do not need to flower around for long distances in search of meeting their energy needs.