Abstract
The flora of mountain formations in the Caatinga biome is composed predominantly by semi-deciduous species with representatives of both Atlantic and Amazon forest. Information on the potential for bee pollen production of these species is limited. In this study we evaluated the potential of production, the temporal variation, the botanical origin and the nutritional value of bee pollen produced in a seasonal semideciduous forest in northeastern Brazil. We identified a total of 252 flowering plant species throughout the year. The diet of Apis mellifera consisted of 74 pollen types distributed in 58 genera and 27 families. We identified two production peaks of bee pollen, the highest occurring in the rainy season. Nutritional value considering crude protein, carbohydrates, lipids and mineral matter changed over the study period, with influence of rainfall on the dry matter level. Some taxonomic groups of plants showed a strong relationship with nutrients, suggesting that although the diet of A. mellifera is broadly diversified, this species devoted most of its pollen foraging effort on the genus Mimosa and the palm tree species of Attalea speciosa. The results show that the seasonal semideciduous forest of the mountain range in the Northeast Brazil presents plant species: Mimosa caesalpiniifolia, Baccharis trinervis, Mimosa tenuiflora Myracrodruom urundeuva, Cecropia pachystachya, Attalea speciosa, with high nutritional level and potential for the pollen production.
Highlights
The quantity and quality of pollen collected by bees are closely related to the type of vegetation and availability of floral resources
The present study investigates the potential of bee pollen production in a seasonal semideciduous forest of the semi-arid area of northeastern Brazil and evaluates the temporal variation in the production of pollen used in the diet of A. mellifera and its nutritional value
It is known that A. mellifera has an extremely plastic behavior, and that its foraging on floral sources is mostly related to the abundance of resources as well to the floral density than to the species specific features (Stang, 2007)
Summary
The quantity and quality of pollen collected by bees are closely related to the type of vegetation and availability of floral resources. Bee pollen contains more than 200 substances (Komosinska-Vassev et al, 2015), consisting mainly of proteins, amino acids, lipids, fibers, enzymes, minerals, sugars and vitamins (Arruda et al, 2013; Avni et al, 2014; Bogdanov, 2015; Sattle et al, 2015) This composition makes pollen essential for feeding brood as well as for maintenance of the colony of A. mellifera (Marchini et al, 2006). Global production of bee pollen is concentrated on temperate countries and regions and little is known about the potential production in tropical and subtropical areas of the world (Estevinho et al, 2012) In these warmer regions, beekeeping has faced consistent growth in recent years, but focusing on honey production
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