Im trying to find information on the population abundance of the native stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria in Australia. I would really appreciate any information people may have on the subject. There seems to be next to no information on population sizes etc. Presumably a difficult thing to study comprehensively, If you know of any peer reviewed studies on the subject or even more general information that would be amazing and very much appreciated. I can find the species range and conservation status etc etc but nothing specific on population sizes, abundance or numbers etc
The only things I know about Tetragonula carbonaria IE native stingless bee is that they are becoming popular to keep in backyard hives, and have been the subject of at least two books on that. I gave the books I had to someone lucky enough to get a hive, and needed info. I don’t recall titles and authors etc.
Hives with the stingless bees are not sold commercially as far as I know. The way to get a hive is to know someone in macadamia nut farming business who may have them in their plantations, and semi-urban tree lopper businesses who sometimes come across them in trees that need to be cut down.
If you live in Australia, with a hive of your own, you could study numbers in a colony, how long they last etc
That would not necessarily be applicable to wild populations – for the same reason that studying cultivated plants may not cross over to wild plants, even of the same species.
Comparing wild stingless bees and stingless bees living in a backyard hive, to wild plants and domesticated plants is a no go-er. Domesticated plants have been bred to exist in gardens for many plant-generations. Stingless bees as far as I know have not been bred for backyard hives. They are still wild, merely having had their hives trans-located. any studies on wild populations would be safe, I reckon