P. Selva Singh Richard , S. Abraham Muthukumar , H. Malleshappa

Abstract

Diurnal floral visitors of 27 woody Angiosperms wet'e observed from Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), Southern Western Ghats, Tirunelveli District, between 2008 and 2010. The foraging profiles of floral visitors as well as the flower characters were analysed. It was found that although visitor profiles were sometimes consistent with classic pollination syndromes, these syndromes were unreliable predictors of floral visitors. The majority of flowering plants was unspecialized in their morphology, and consequently hosted a diverse array of visitors. Bees being the potential pollinators visited species with purple or pink flowers that are not strictly confirm to the melittophilous syndrome. Bright coloured, tubular flowers were associated with birds, with more accessible nectar. Ants were noted as nectar thieves in some plants. Altitude was a major factor in determining visitors, with flies being the most abundant visitors of m any plant species, while others received very few potential pollen vectors.

Keywords

KMTR, Trees, Floml Reward, Floral ViSitor, Pollinator

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P. Selva Singh Richard ¹, S. Abraham Muthukumar ², H. Malleshappa ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, Madras Christian College, Chennai - 600 059, IN
2 Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, St. John's College, Tirunelveli - 627 002, IN
3 Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai - 600 015, IN

Abstract

Pollen analysis of four honey samples (IK, KH, KK and TP) from Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) was undertaken to determine the floral source and to identify the pollen types in order to find the ecological origin of honey sample. The honey samples were collected from the honey comb remnants of Apis cerana, Apis dorsata and Trigona iridipennis honey bee species during 2008 - 2010 at different locations of Mundanthurai Range, KMTR. A total of 26 pollen types belonging to 21 angiosperm families and one gymnosperm family (Gnetaceae) were identified. The most commonly represented pollen types in the honey samples are Mallotus, Syzygium and Trema. The occurrence of semievergreen and wet evergreen pollen types in the honey samples such as Calophyllum, Elaeocarpus, Gnetum, Myristica and Strobilanthes determine the ecological origin of the honey.

Keywords

Melissopalynology, Honey, Pollen Analysis, KMTR

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