Orchid bees as bio-indicators for organic coffee farms in Costa Rica: Does farm size affect their abundance?

Orchid bees as bio-indicators for organic coffee farms in Costa Rica: Does farm size affect their abundance?

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The potential of Euglossini bees, especially Euglossa, as click here biological indicators of organic vs non-organic coffee farms was studied in Atenas and San Isidro, Alajuela, Costa Rica using 1.8-cineole as lure.Observations were made for three days at each of four farms and complemented with data from a year of observations.

Orchid bees were in greater abundance in the organic farms (t-Student test).However, lower abundances suggest that an organic farm may be negatively affected by the proximity of non-organic farms, depending on its size and distance.Orchid bees may click here be indicators of organic coffee farms.

Rev.Biol.Trop.

54 (3): 965-969.Epub 2006 Sept.29.