Floristic surveys and their importance for the honey production in Western Paraná state

ABSTRACT

Floristic surveys make it possible for the beekeeper to determine the time of permanence of hives in a given location by determining the flowering. The objective was to carry out the floristic survey of remnants of a native forest in the region and areas of forest recovery for the purposes of conservation and production, in order to assist local beekeepers to define strategies for rational exploration and conservation of forest remnants and reforestation areas from western Paraná state. The plant surveys were carried out at the Experimental Stations (EE) of Entre Rios do Oeste (ERO) and Marechal Cândido Rondon (MCR), both linked to the State University of Western Paraná (Unioeste) and at the Biological Refuge of Santa Helena (RB-SH), which is an Area of Relevant Ecological Interest (ARIE). At the EE of Unioeste, MCR and ERO, an area of 20 meters x 5 meters was delimited for each point, by the method of plots of fixed rectangular areas, and the collection of each species in the reproductive phase was carried out. To map plant collection areas, four points were georeferenced in each season. The collections were biweekly and monthly from December 2017 to November 2019. At RB-SH the method used was to walk the pre-existing ecological trails at the site and the survey was carried out by means of biweekly collections of botanical samples in the reproductive phase, between August 2017 and June 2018. One hundred and seventy-three (173) plants were collected, 121 of which were identified, 103 at the species level, nine at the genus level and nine at the family level, belonging to 41 botanical families. The general Shannon-Wiener index (H’) was 3.15 nats individual^-1, with the values ​​found being 2.30 nats individual^-1 in MCR; 2.94 nats individual^-1 in ERO and 4.22 nats individual^-1 in RB-SH. Regarding similarity indices, the lowest value was observed between the sampled areas of RB-SH and MCR and the highest between ERO and RB-SH. It is concluded that the botanical families Poaceae and Myrtaceae, were representative in the analyzed honeys, being identified in the honey samples of Apis mellifera the pollen types Myrceugenia euosma, Urochloa arrecta, Triticum aestivum, Albizia niopoides, Avena sativa and Eugenia uniflora.

Keywords:
Beekeeper; Diversity; Riparian forests; Trophic resources