{"title":"Diversity of Plants Foraged by Apis cerana Fabricius Around Qinling Mountains (Central China) Based on Honey Pollen Samples","authors":"Xinjun Guo, Saiting Wang, Jing Feng","doi":"10.13102/sociobiology.v70i3.8876","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"To illustrate the essential role of Apis cerana Fabricius in plant pollination, a survey was conducted using PCR, DNA barcoding, and high-throughput sequencing technologies to assess the diversity of plants foraged by A. cerana at five sites around Qinling Mountains. A fragment of the rbcL gene in pollen isolated from honey collected at each site was amplified and sequenced. The results show that samples BJ and TC, samples FP and AK have a high correlation, respectively. According to the information of a total of 64 plant species identified in the five sites, belonging to 53 genera, 37 families, and 23 orders, it is found that there is a relatively high diversity and complex composition of nectar and pollen plants and that most of the plants are sporadically available. The identified species show higher occurrence in some orders, such as Sapindales, Rosales, etc. There are significantly more plants of temperate origin than those of tropical origin, 58.5% and 34.0%, respectively. Some species of Rosales or Sapindales are more visited by A. cerana, with Toxicodendron vernicifluum (Stokes) being the dominant species. These results provide a basis for assessing the role of A. cerana in plant pollination and maintaining biodiversity.","PeriodicalId":21971,"journal":{"name":"Sociobiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sociobiology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v70i3.8876","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ENTOMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
To illustrate the essential role of Apis cerana Fabricius in plant pollination, a survey was conducted using PCR, DNA barcoding, and high-throughput sequencing technologies to assess the diversity of plants foraged by A. cerana at five sites around Qinling Mountains. A fragment of the rbcL gene in pollen isolated from honey collected at each site was amplified and sequenced. The results show that samples BJ and TC, samples FP and AK have a high correlation, respectively. According to the information of a total of 64 plant species identified in the five sites, belonging to 53 genera, 37 families, and 23 orders, it is found that there is a relatively high diversity and complex composition of nectar and pollen plants and that most of the plants are sporadically available. The identified species show higher occurrence in some orders, such as Sapindales, Rosales, etc. There are significantly more plants of temperate origin than those of tropical origin, 58.5% and 34.0%, respectively. Some species of Rosales or Sapindales are more visited by A. cerana, with Toxicodendron vernicifluum (Stokes) being the dominant species. These results provide a basis for assessing the role of A. cerana in plant pollination and maintaining biodiversity.
期刊介绍:
SOCIOBIOLOGY publishes high quality articles that significantly contribute to the knowledge of Entomology, with emphasis on social insects. Articles previously submitted to other journals are not accepted. SOCIOBIOLOGY publishes original research papers and invited review articles on all aspects related to the biology, evolution and systematics of social and pre-social insects (Ants, Termites, Bees and Wasps). The journal is currently expanding its scope to incorporate the publication of articles dealing with other arthropods that exhibit sociality. Articles may cover a range of subjects such as ecology, ethology, morphology, population genetics, physiology, toxicology, reproduction, sociobiology, caste differentiation as well as economic impact and pest management.