The original vegetation in the Morro Azul mountain region, northwest of Rio de Janeiro city, was the Atlantic tropical rain forest. Anthropic activities transformed the vegetation into pastureland and patches of the original forest. In addition, there are reforested areas of Pinus, Eucalyptus and others of non native plant species. The aim of the present research was to estimate the contribution of nectar and pollen from each type of vegetation for Apis mellifera bees, using pollen analysis. Eleven monthly collected honey samples and nine samples of pollen loads were obtained in a control-hive and prepared for pollen analysis following the standard European methodology without application of acetolysis. Six honey samples were considered monofloral, as of Baccharis (March), Gochnatia (April and November), Eucalyptus (September and October) and Castanea (August). Three were considered bifloral ones, as of Mimosa scabrella pollen type and Piptadenia (January), Eucalyptus and Eupatorium (June) and Phytolacca and Machaerium pollen type (October). Heterofloral honeys occurred in July (Arecaceae, Eucalyptus and Allophylus) and in December (Anadenanthera, Eupatorium and Eucalyptus). The dominant pollen loads comprised the pollen types of Arecaceae, Baccharis, Castanea, Cecropia, Eucalyptus and Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. The results provided a pollen spectrum that reflected the nectariferous and polliniferous contribution of field vegetation and of introduced plant species in the study region.
Apis mellifera; Brazil; honey; pollen; Rio de Janeiro
