Search

Ecosystems are rapidly urbanizing at the global and regional scales, particularly in the tropics, which has deleterious effect on hymenopteran pollinators. Based on the literature spanning multiple disciplines including ecology, pollination, agriculture, agroecology and entomology, this review deliberates on the pollinators and their global decline. Also, it turns the focus on honey bees and their role in agroecosystem. Relevant information from melissopalynology is brought together and the gaps and directions of future research on conservation and management of honey bees in tropical peninsular India are discussed. Focus is on the two species of the hived native Apis cerana indica F., and Tetragonula iridipennis Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae), as these play a major role in transforming existing agricultural landscapes into agroecosystems, benefitting the farmers and maintaining ecological balance in tropical peninsular India. This review brings to the fore the fact that there is a tangible gap in reports and long-term studies of many native pollinators and in particular the two hived honey bees. Most studies present in a thorough manner visual observations of pollinators (bees) on plants but rarely combine them with quantifying the resources gathered from the plants, especially pollen. This combined approach is especially important to understand the hymenopteran pollinators from the purview of the pollination service they provide. It can be concluded that there is a pressing requirement for long-term observations along these lines with quantifiable pollen and vegetation data to arrive at meaningful plant-pollinator networks that are essential for conservation and management of the native Asiatic honey bees as pollinators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Geographical and botanical origins of honeys are determined by melissopalynological analysis. Pollen contents of 12 autumn honeys collected from Indian honey bee, Apis cerana F. hives located in different localities of Kullu hills of Himachal Pradesh were analysed. Kullu hills having varied geography, climatic condition with diversified and rich flora is ideal for apiculture. So, it is of utmost importance to study the floral richness of the area and preferences of honey bees for nectar and pollen in order to obtain maximum production of a good quality of honey. Thus, the present work was carried out to determine the critical analysis of honey samples and to identify the different pollen types which are major plant sources that contribute to the increase of yield of honey. Methods: Melissopalynological studies were conducted between 2009 to 2012. Reference pollen slides of honey samples were prepared and identified. Quantative analysis is done with the help of a haemocytometer and pollen spectra, absolute pollen count as well as percentage of pollen types were calculated. Reference slides were also prepared. Result: Microscopic analysis yielded that in honey samples, 5 pollen types were present as predominant; 17 were secondary, while, 38 were important minor and minor pollen sources. Out of 12 honey samples analysed, 5 were unifloral, whereas, 7 were multifloral. In the unifloral honeys, the predominant sporomorphs were: Prunus cerasoides, Eriobotrya japonica, Prinsepia utilis, Plectranthus sp. and Solidago sp. Forty four pollen types were necteriferous, while, 6 were nectarless represented by Cannabis sativa, Juglans regia, Rumex nepalensis, Polygonum sp. and Zea mays. Among different plant families, Lamiaceae (8), Asteraceae (7), Rosaceae (7), Fabaceae (4), Polygonaceae (3) and Apiaceae (2) highly contributed for nectar and pollen sources of honey bee. Twenty five botanical families with 50 different pollen taxa were identified indicating the various plants visited by honeybees and the sources of nectar used in the production of honey. The high concentration and diversity of pollen types showed that the samples were of botanical origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponinae) are eusocial insects, play an important role as pollinators of many flowering plants. This study was aimed to know the flowering plants foraged by stingless bees through visual observations and pollen analysis. The roving survey was conducted at the College of Horticulture, Udyanagiri and Haveli Campus, Bagalkot, Karnataka and observed for the stingless bees on flowering plants from September 2019 to March 2020 during peak foraging time. Recorded a total of 30 plant species belonging to 20 different families of which most preferred families included Apiaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Amaryllidaceae, Anacardiaceae and Euphorbiaceae. The pollen analysis or Melissopalynology was performed by using the standard method of acetolysis. A total of 11 pollen loads were collected from corbicula of stingless bees from January to March 2020 and identified 9 plant species belonging to 8 different families of which, family Arecaceae and Mangifera indica L. were most occurred pollen types among all the pollen load collected samples. These results suggest that the studied areas can provide food sources for stingless bees where it is important for maintaining populations of them in meliponiculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique medicinal and nutritional properties of honey are determined by its chemical composition. To evaluate the quality of honey, it is essential to study the surrounding vegetation where honeybees forage. In this study we used conventional melissopalynological and DNA barcoding techniques to determine the floral source of honey samples collected from different districts of the state of Mizoram, India. Pollen grains were isolated and genomic DNA was extracted from the honey samples. PCR amplification was carried out using universal barcode candidates ITS2 and rbcL to identify the plant species. Furthermore, TA cloning was carried out to screen the PCR amplicon libraries to identify the presence of multiple plant species. Results from both the melissopalynological and DNA barcoding analyses identified almost exactly the same 22 species, suggesting that both methods are suitable for analysis. However, DNA barcoding is easier and widely practiced. Hence, it can be concluded that DNA barcoding is a useful tool in determining the medicinal and commercial value of honey.