The Foraging preference of stingless beekeeping in three types of land use at Lombok Island

Abstract

The success of stingless beekeeping was supported by site suitability and the availability of floral sources. Bee feed is an important requirement for the sustainability of stingless beekeeping because it determines the qualities and quantities of bee products. The study aimed to examine the level of feed preference for stingless bees. The research location was divided into three types, i.e., agroecosystems, forests, and settlements. Acetolysis of the pollen where came from the hive was used to examine the foraging preferences of stingless bees. The results of the study were four species of stingless bee were identified, i.e., Tetragonula fuscobalteata, Tetragonula laeviceps, Tetragonula clypearis, and Heterotrigona erythrogastra. Based on the results of the data analysis, T. fuscobalteata was mostly cultivated in the settlement areas, T. laeviceps and T. clypearis were mostly found at the sites that were close to the agroecosystems, while H. erythrogastra was cultivated near the forest areas. The pollen that be favorite feed plants of Tetragonula was Bromeliaceae and Cyperaceae, while for H. erythrogastra, Rubiaceae was the preference of forage plants. However, the PCA showed that the preference of forage plants for the beekeeping of stingless bees was influenced by the availability of feed sources around their hives.