Brazil nut Polinization ( Bertholletia excelsa Bonpl., Lecythidaceae): Floral Biology, Reproductive System and Pollinator Management in Native and Cultivated Areas within the Brazilian Amazon

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The Brazil Nut Tree, also known as Pará's Nut Tree or Amazonia's Nut Tree ( Bertholletia excelsa Bonpl., Lecythidaceae), is one of the most exuberant trees of the Amazonian Forest. It produces woody fruits (husks), which have from 10 to 25 seeds (almonds), that can be consumed in natura or industrialized, rich in proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins and selenium. In Brazil, the largest producers of Brazil Nut are the stateds of Pará, Amazonas, Acre and Rondônia. This nut's secular market is the only in which the seeds are collected almost exclusively in natural forests and then traded internationally. In addition to the natural occurrence, the Brazil Nut is cultivated in agro-forest systems (SAFs) and in mono-cultivation ones, however, these nuts' pollinators' efficiency may be affected in extensive crops. Signs of this problem has been observed in a mono-culture of 3,600 hectares, where it was registered a variation of richness, diversity and abundance of B. excelsa visitor bees during the flowering period, and also signs of pollinator deficit. There isn't much information about the efficiency of pollinators in these systems, especially in the matter of restricted fruiting due to a lack of adequate pollination. In addition, there's the hypothesis that Brazil Nut Trees which are isolated in Amazonian altered areas could be reproductively non-functional (living-dead trees), once pollinators wouldn't be able to transpose great distances in order to promote cross-breeding pollination, which is necessary in order to form fruits. In order to avoid population decrease of natural pollinator agents in commercial crops and, consequently, low fruit production, it has been recommended the development of management programs for the most important pollinators, as well as the cultivation of strips of native vegetation, in order to create bird-nesting spots and food sources (nectar and pollen) during the period which B. excelsa isn't flowering, and still the planting of species which are pollinated by the same agents, so that they may share the same pollinators. Thusly, considering the socio-economic importance of the Brazil Nut Tree ( Bertholletia excelsa Bonpl.) to the traditional peoples and the rural producers of the Amazon, in addition to the environmental importance of forest operation, together with the lack of more detailed studies regarding the interaction between plant and pollinators, and pollination requirements particular to the species, and also the shortage of B. excelsa pollinators in anthropized areas, or large scale plantations, this network project proposes to study the floral biology, the pollination ecology (pollinator monitoring, pollinator deficit), and reproductive systems of this valuable Amazonian species, in different environments and regions of the Amazon.

Ecosystem: Amazonic

Status: Completed Start date: Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2010 Conclusion date: Wed Dec 31 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2014

Head Unit: Embrapa Eastern Amazon

Project leader: Marcia Motta Maues

Contact: marcia.maues@embrapa.br