Foraging Preferences of Honey Bees Apis Cerana in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India
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PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online OPEN ACCESS every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Foraging preferences of honey bees Apis cerana in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India A.G. Suhas Krishna & Rajashekhar K. Patl 26 April 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 6 | Pages: 13756–13764 DOI: 10.11609/jot.4265.11.6.13756-13764 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13756–13764 Foraging preferences of honey bees Apis cerana in Communication Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) A.G. Suhas Krishna 1 & Rajashekhar K. Patl 2 ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) PLATINUM 1,2 Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mudipu - Manjanady Road, Mangalagangotri, Mangaluru, Karnataka 574199, India. OPEN ACCESS 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected] Abstract: Honey bees visit fowers for collectng nectar and pollen. Pollen serves as a source of protein for the survival of honeybees. To understand the dependence and preference of the honey bee species Apis cerana on diferent pollen resources, we carried out a study to analyze the distributon of diferent types of pollen in honey in various regions of the coastal plains of the Western Ghats. Fourteen diferent honey samples from diferent sites ranging in elevaton from 55m to 135m were collected and analyzed. Acetolysis and centrifugaton were used for pollen extracton from diferent honey samples. The extracted pollen was mixed with glycerin jelly and transferred to a glass slide for microscopic analysis. The primary source of pollen as revealed by the current study were found to be Areca catechu, Cocos nucifera, Ixora coccinea, Mimosa pudica, and Psidium guajava. Morphotype analysis revealed 12 diferent plants to be the source of the pollen. Each honey sample collected from diferent locatons, however, had only three to six types of pollen indicatng that honeybees visit a narrow or a small number of pollen sources. Therefore, based on our study, we conclude that lesser types of pollen in each honey sample indicates that their food resources are getng limited. Therefore, it is necessary to conserve pollen resources for the beter survival of honey bees and the environment. Keywords: Areca catechu, Cocos nucifera, coastal plains, Ixora coccinea, melissopalynological analysis, Mimosa pudica, nectar, pollen, Psidium guajava, Western Ghats. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4265.11.6.13756-13764 Editor: P.A. Sinu, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, India. Date of publicaton: 26 April 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #4265 | Received 17 May 2018 | Final received 11 January 2019 | Finally accepted 08 April 2019 Citaton: Krishna, A.G.S & R.K. Patl (2019). Foraging preferences of honey bees Apis cerana in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(6): 13756–13764. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4265.11.6.13756-13764 Copyright: © Krishna & Patl 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: None. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author Details: A.G. Suhas Krishna is Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Vivekananda Degree College. He is interested in insects such as honey bees and other aspects of biodiversity. He is also a part tme research scholar in Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Konaje. Dr. Rajashekhar K. Patil is retred Professor, Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University. He is interested in insect physiology, behaviour and neurobiology. Author Contributon: AGSK has done all the experiments, AGSK & RKP have writen the manuscript. Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Mangalore University for providing the necessary facilites and requirements to carry out this research work. 13756 Foraging preferences of Apis cerana Krishna & Patl INTRODUCTION 2012, 2014), and Madhya Pradesh (Chauhan & Quamar 2010; Sahney & Seth 2013) conducted studies on these Among all insects that pollinate, honeybees aspects. are considered to be one of the crucial pollinators (Ballantyne et al. 2017). Animal pollinaton directly afects about three-quarters of essental crop types, MATERIALS AND METHODS including most fruits, seeds, and nuts (Smith et al. 2015). Honeybees collect diferent types of pollen and they are From February 2016 to April 2016, 14 honey samples added or mixed with honey intentonally or accidentally. were collected from 14 diferent locatons of Dakshina Melissopalynological analysis, or studies on pollen, are Kannada District, which covers from 12.520N & 74.530E helpful in determining the geographical and botanical to 12.870N & 74.880E in the state of Karnataka, India, origin of honey (Louveaux et al. 1978; von der Ohe et and has an area of 4,559km2 (Dakshina Kannada District al. 2004). These studies also evaluate the plant source Profle 2015; Fig. 1). Beekeepers of diferent areas of required for honey producton and such knowledge Dakshina Kannada were approached and samples were about the pollen resource helps improve beekeeping collected from them with the intenton of understanding practces. A few melissopalynological studies were the pollen preferences of honey bees in the district. The carried out in India, and our study aims to present the geographical positon of the honey samples collected foraging preferences of honeybees in the coastal plains was also noted down and all 14 honey samples from of the Western Ghats. diferent sites ranging in elevaton of 55–135 m were Vegetaton of Dakshina Kannada that lies along sampled (Table 2). the Western Ghats expresses itself with thousands The samples were stored in containers. Honey of species and several hundred genera of plants. samples were collected from several apiaries of It harbours several endemic and rare plants; this domestcated Apis cerana indica colonies. All honey range of diversity is because of the physiological and samples were unprocessed and raw during the tme geographical positoning of Dakshina Kannada along the of collecton and they were extracted using honey coastline, exposed to elevatons ranging from sea level extractng machines from honeycombs by beekeepers. to about 4,500f. It consists of the Western Ghats in the The detailed informaton on the diferent honey samples east and the seashore in the west. The soil is mostly collected is included in Table 1. lateritc and the topography of the district is plain up to To do pollen analysis, 5g of honey sample was 30km inside the coast and changes to undulatng hilly dissolved in 5ml of distlled water and centrifuged at terrain sharply towards the east in the Western Ghats 2,500rpm for 10min. Afer centrifugaton, the sediment (Dakshina Kannada District Profle 2015). Trees such obtained was treated with 5ml glacial acetc acid. Later, as Bamboo, Rosewood Dalbergia latfolia, and Teak the glacial acetc acid was removed and the material Tectona grandis are found in the hilly areas towards the was subjected to acetolysis as per Erdtman (1952). This east. In rural Dakshina Kannada, houses are situated soluton was again centrifuged and the supernatant between farmlands or plantatons of Arecanut Areca soluton was discarded; the sediment containing catechu and Coconut Cocos nucifera (Anonymous 2015). pollen was taken and added with glycerin jelly and was The earliest research on the pollen present in honey transferred to a glass slide. The glass slide was slightly was done by Pfster (1895) by carrying out an analysis heated to melt the jelly and cover slip was applied. To of French, Swiss, and European honey. Deodikar et al. secure the coverslip, colourless nail polish was applied (1958) initated palynological studies in Maharashtra in to its edges (Song et al. 2012; Ponnuchemy et al. 2014). India. Later, others from diferent parts of India such as To analyze the pollen present in the honey samples Andhra Pradesh (Ramanujam & Kalpana 1991; Lakshmi qualitatvely and quanttatvely, three pollen slides & Suryanarayana 2004; Ramakrishna & Swathi 2013; were prepared for each of the samples.