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Territorial biodiversity and consequences on physico-chemical characteristics of pollen collected by honey bee colonies

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Abstract

Pollen resources may become a constraint for the honey bee in cereal farming agrosystems and thus influence honey bee colony development. This survey intended to increase knowledge on bee ecology in order to understand how farming systems can provide bee forage throughout the year. We conducted a 1-year study to investigate the flower range exploited in an agrarian environment in western France, the physico-chemical composition of honey bee-collected pollen, the territorial biodiversity visited by the bee at different periods, and the relationships between these three datasets. Palynological analyses showed the importance of maize among crop pollens and that of weeds during the food shortage period. Pollen protein varied from 16% to 29% and lipids from 7% to 24%. The contribution of different habitats to pollen harvest, was from crops (62%), woods (32%), grasslands (4%), and gardens (1%).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from INRA SPE Department and Franco-Romanian programme “PHC Brancusi” helped by A. Jeannel at INRA MRI Department. The authors would like to thank N. Moreau, T. Souché at Le Magneraud, and R. Spulber in Bucharest for physico-chemical analysis. We also thank H. Lamy, and T. Tamic for palynology analyses, M. Chabirand for land use recording and L. Roucher for pollen sampling, all from Le Magneraud. We wish to thank J. Coates for her critical reading in English.

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Correspondence to Jean-François Odoux.

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Manuscript editor: Peter Rosenkranz

Biodiversité territoriale et conséquences sur les caractéristiques du pollen récolté par les colonies d’abeilles

Agrosystème / abeille/biodiversité florale / analyse pollinique / analyse chimique

Territoriale Biodiversität und Konsequenzen für die physiko-chemischen Eigenschaften von Pollen, der von Bienenvölkern gesammelt wird.

Agrarökosystem / florale Biodiversität / Pollenanalyse / chemische Analyse / Honigbiene

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Odoux, JF., Feuillet, D., Aupinel, P. et al. Territorial biodiversity and consequences on physico-chemical characteristics of pollen collected by honey bee colonies. Apidologie 43, 561–575 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-012-0125-1

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