Monitoring the Deforestation Rate and its Impact on Wild Bee Populations (Apidae: Meliponini) in the Chaco Serrano Ecoregion, Itapochi Community of the Serranía del Iñao National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area – Bolivia
Ever Medrano Narvaez
ABSTRACT
The research project, titled "Impact of Deforestation on Populations of (Apidae: Meliponini) in the Iñao Protected Area," aims to contribute to the understanding of the impact of deforestation on wild bee populations. The study methodology is based on multi-temporal analysis using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) to determine the location and extent of vegetation cover changes associated with deforestation, based on Landsat satellite imagery from 2004–2019. The resulting temporal maps allowed for the georeferencing of transects for field monitoring and the observation of wild bee nest density. The deforestation rate results showed that deforested areas increased over 14 years. According to the multi-temporal analysis of Landsat images, starting with the year 2004 when the Serranía del Iñao National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area (PN ANMI Serranía del Iñao) was established, the deforested area was 156.26 hectares. By 2019, this figure had risen to 258.62 hectares, representing an increase of 93.36 hectares. This increase is primarily associated with the expansion of the agricultural frontier, which is one of the most significant threats to biodiversity in the Serranía del Iñao National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area. The fragmentation of natural habitats has irreversible effects that consequently lead to a loss of wild bee populations due to the destruction of their food sources and nesting sites. The density obtained from wild bee populations in natural forest areas adjacent to deforested areas was 10.26 hives per hectare made up of 5 species.
