Ecological niche modeling and geographical distribution of pollinator and plants: A case study of Peponapis fervens (Smith, 1879) (Eucerini: Apidae) and Cucurbita species (Cucurbitaceae)

a r t i c l e i n f o The bees of the Peponapis genus (Eucerini, Apidae) have a Neotropical distribution with the center of species diversity located in Mexico and are specialized in Cucurbita plants, which have many species of economic importance, such as squashes and pumpkins. Peponapis fervens is the only species of the genus known from southern South America. The Cucurbita species occurring in the same area as P. fervens include four domesticated species (C. ficifolia, C. maxima maxima, C. moschata and C. pepo) and one non-domesticated species (Cucurbita maxima andreana). It was suggested that C. m. andreana was the original pollen source to P. fervens, and this bee expanded its geographical range due to the domestication of Cucurbita. The potential geographical areas of these species were determined and compared using ecological niche modeling that was performed with the computational system openModeller and GARP with best subsets algorithm. The climatic variables obtained through modeling were compared using Cluster Analysis. Results show that the potential areas of domesticated species practically spread all over South America. The potential area of P. fervens includes the areas of C. m. andreana but reaches a larger area, where the domesticated species of Cucurbita also occur. The Cluster Analysis shows a high climatic similarity between P. fervens and C. m. andreana. Nevertheless, P. fervens presents the ability to occupy areas with wider ranges of climatic variables and to exploit resources provided by domesticated species. As previously pointed out by Kearns et al. (1998), pollination interactions are keystones in human-managed as well as natural ecosystems. The " pollinator crisis " , i.e. the reduction of the pollination service performed by animal pollinator agents, is widespread all over the world and is related to human activities, especially habitat loss (Buchmann and Nabhan, 1996). Also, the recent decline of honeybee populations (Stokstad 2007) points to a more important role of wild bees as providers of ecological services (Losey and Vaughan 2006; Winfree et al. 2007). Specialized relationships between plant and pollinator are of special concern because of the vulnerability of this narrow interaction (Biesmeijer et al. 2006; Girao et al. 2007; Memmott et al. 2007). Thus, it is necessary to increase knowledge related to the organisms involved in these interactions. suggested that Peponapis followed the different centers of domestication of Cucurbita at different times throughout history, and that the extensive cultivation of Cucurbita in …