Duration: 03/2017 - 03/2020
Funded by: CNPq e FDTE (processo 00105)
Coordination:
José Elton de Melo Nascimento
Paraná (Brazil) has in its territory the main phytogeographic units that occur in the country, it presents one of the richest diversities with regard to types of vegetation, consisting of Atlantic Forest, Araucaria Forest and Paraná River Dry Forest. Thus, this vast and diverse flora is potentially important for beekeeping and meliponicultura of the State. In this way, a more in-depth study of the local flora and construction of a reference collection (pollen collection) is necessary to know better the relation with botanical species that provide trophic resources for the bees of the region. This allows to know the flowering period of each species and to organize all this information in an apicultural calendar that will help beekeepers and meliponicultores to establish a more adequate management of the colonies, consequently to improve the productivity and certify the botanical origin of these products in the region.
The study was developed from April 2018 to March 2019 on the experimental farm of the State University of Maringá, where it presents areas for cultivation and preservation (42 hectares of preserved vegetation), the collections were made every 15 days, after which all collected material , pressed, mounted and deposited the exsicates in the Herbarium State University of Maringá-HUEM. Concomitantly with the samples, pre-anthesis flower buds were also removed from each plant, pollen grains were collected, stored in falcon tubes and submitted to the acetolysis process, using acids to remove cytoplasmic contents and better visualization of the pollen grain structure. Soon after, three slides of each plant specie were made and deposited in the collection beginning the construction of the pollen collection of reference of the local flora.
During the entire collection period, 174 species were collected and recorded in 46 botanical families. Asteraceae and Leguminosae stood out respectively 17.24% and 14.37%, being the families of greater biological diversity in number of species, followed by Bignoniaceae (7.47%), Malvaceae (6.32%), Solanaceae (5.17%) and Lamiaceae (5.17%). The other families represented 44.24% of the total number of species collected. The plants that make up the families Asteraceae and Leguminosae are important sources of trophic resources (pollen and / or nectar) for the maintenance of colonies and the production of honey, pollen and propolis. However, the variety of other families was also significant (68.37%), since there are species of bees that collect resources according to their preferences and habits. In addition, from these 174 species of plants, it was possible to know the diversity of the local flora and to start the construction of the reference collection of pollen grains (palinoteca), one of the only ones in the State of Paraná, which will subsidize future studies on botanical certification of bee products to local producers.
Team:
Vagner de Alencar Arnaut Toledo
Cláudia Inês da Silva
Jefferson Nunes Radaeski
Soraia Bauermann
Favízia de Oliveira Freitas
Maria Auxiliadora Milaneze
Greta Aline Dettke
Luis Gustavo Perigui