Characteristics of pollen Apis mellifera L., 1758 honey (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Apini) northern coastal plain region, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

The northern coastal of Rio Grande do Sul is filled with rare ecosystems and a biodiversity with a high environmental vulnerability, resulted especially by the urban development in this region. Nevertheless, there is still good part of the population in this region that keeps small farms, which have an intense apicultural activity, making this part of the state an important producer and exporter of honey. Honey is the final result of the flower's nectar transformation and dehydration process performed by the honeybees, and its characteristics depend mainly by the local existing vegetation. The objective of this work is to determine the floral origin of the different types of honey produced in the northern coastal plain of Rio Grande do Sul, identifying different types of pollen and plant species used by Apis mellifera for the honey production. In qualitative analyzes, the most frequent taxas were found in: Eucalyptus sp., Mimosa sp., Ilex sp., Hovenia dulcis Thunb. and Sebastiana brasiliensis Spreng.. The different types of honey were defined as poliflorals. The botanical families Myrtaceae, Fabaceae and Asteraceae were present in all samples, but at different quantitative standards.