Dominance Hierarchy and Floral Trait Preference: Behavioural Strategies of Bee Community Foraging on Brinjal ( <i>Solanum melongena</i> )

ABSTRACT Understanding pollinator interaction and their competitive dynamics is vital for preserving pollinator diversity and their services in agricultural landscapes. While competition among pollinator species has been previously studied, the various bee species foraging in a particular crop flower have never been ranked into hierarchical positions based on their interspecific aggressive behaviour. Our study investigated the interspecific competition of bee species foraging for pollen resources in brinjal ( Solanum melongena ) fields and tried to establish a dominance hierarchy based on their aggressive interactions. We also hypothesised that the bees have specific floral trait preferences when foraging in brinjal flowers. Dominance hierarchy was calculated using David's Score method based on the aggressive behaviour shown by bees in dyadic interactions while visiting flowers. A bee‐flower interaction network was created, treating each flower as a distinct unit, in contrast to traditional plant‐pollinator networks that consider the plant species as individual units. This network grouped the bee species into different modules according to their floral trait preferences. The results revealed that buzz‐pollinating Amegilla ( Zonamegilla ) sp.1 bees lead the dominance hierarchy, followed by Nomia spp. and Xylocopa pubescens . Apis cerana exhibited submissive behaviour and ranked lower in the hierarchy, whereas the stingless bee Tetragonula sp. appeared to be more opportunistic. The flower size and the length of the style protruding above the anther cone were obtained to be the primary parameters for the floral visitation preference of the bees, which may help to reduce the foraging competition and allow for their coexistence.