Melittopalynology and Trophic niche analysis of Apis cerana and Apis mellifera in Yunnan Province of Southwest China

<p class="a">The present study reports results of qualitative melittopalynological analyses of 34 honey samples of <em>Apis cerana</em> and <em>Apis mellifera</em> between 2011 and 2012 in Mengzi (China Yunnan) and the trophic niche analysis of two bee species...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yu-Jia Liu, Tian-Rui Zhao, Xue-Wen Zhang, Cheng Liang, Feng-Yun Zhao
Format: article
Language:EN
Published: Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/d87dc8dff4f342fda2621403cd5be32b
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:<p class="a">The present study reports results of qualitative melittopalynological analyses of 34 honey samples of <em>Apis cerana</em> and <em>Apis mellifera</em> between 2011 and 2012 in Mengzi (China Yunnan) and the trophic niche analysis of two bee species on pollen food resources. A diverse spectrum of 17 pollen types from 14 families was identified with the Asteraceae and Myrtaceae being most frequent at non-nectar flow and the Lythraceae being most frequent at main nectar flow of pomegranate. The results of trophic niche analysis to <em>Apis cerana</em> and <em>Apis mellifera</em> are these, at non-nectar flow, the Niche breadth are 0.65 and 0.57, respectively; at nectar flow, the values are 0.41 and 0.24, respectively. Trophic niche overlap index, the value of nectar flow(0.68) is greater than non-nectar flow(0.61). Interspecific competition index, the value of nectar flow(0.92) is also greater than non-nectar flow(0.77). These results may promote the development of local beekeeping and help scholars assessing the impact of introduced bees on native bees in China.</p>