Diversity in bee pollen from three phytogeographical regions in Turkey

Abstract

Bee pollen is a mixture of bee secretions, plant pollen and nectar and has a valuable nutritional composition for both bees and humans. The aim of this study was to investigate plant diversity in pollen collected by honey bees from three phytogeographic regions (Mediterranean, Euro-Siberian and Irano-Turanian). Melissopalynological analysis of bee pollen pellets collected from Mediterranean (15), Irano-Turanian (6), and Euro-Siberian (7) in Turkey were analysed. The Shannon–Weaver diversity (H′), richness, and Pielou’s evenness index (J′) were used to compare between bee pollen pellets. In all three phytogeographic regions, herbaceous species are more than tree and shrub species. A total of 80 pollen types belonging to 38 families were identified in these regions. Cistus sp., Trifolium sp., Papaver sp. and Verbascum sp. in Mediterranean; Filipendula sp. and Salix sp. in Irano-Turanian; and Sambucus sp., Helianthemum sp., Onobrychis sp., and Rubus sp. in Euro-Siberian were all determined to be predominant taxa. When pollen was evaluated based on its morphological characteristics, bees preferred medium (41), isopolar (74), prolate (38), 3-colporate (49), reticulate (23), and psilate (22) pollen than other characteristics. The H′ values in polyfloral pollen were higher than bifloral and monofloral pollens. The J’ of polyfloral, bifloral, and monofloral was 0.73 to 0.85, 0.68 to 0.84, and 0.32–0.97, respectively. The results obtained in this study, are important for the establishment of beekeeping in the right areas in terms of plant diversity.