Studies on the relationship between floral fidelity and quality of pollen hoarded by honeybee [Apis mellifera L.] colonies

The aim of this study was to learn the strength of floral fidelity of honeybee colonies and to find what is the relationship between this trait and the amount of collected pollen. The observations were carried out in 2003 and 2004 on 10 honeybee colonies. The pollen was gathered from pollen loads collected using a pollen trap with a 5-mm screen mesh. A scanning electron microscope was used to view pollen grains in order to determine the number of plant species visited by the bees. The mean values of floral fidelity estimated individually for each experimental colony ranged from 40.1 to 75.7% in the first year, and from 45.1 to 67.3% in the second year of the studies. Correlation between floral fidelity and the quantity of collected pollen was observed in 60% of the colonies in the first year and in 70% in the second year. Recurrence of this relationship over the period of two years was found in only 30% of the studied honeybee colonies.