Territorial biodiversity and consequences on physico-chemical characteristics of pollen collected by honey bee colonies

Pollen resources may become a constraint for the honey bee in cereal farming agrosystems and thus influence honey bee colony development. This survey intended to increase knowledge on bee ecology in order to understand how farming systems can provide bee forage throughout the year. We conducted a 1-year study to investigate the flower range exploited in an agrarian environment in western France, the physico-chemical composition of honey bee-collected pollen, the territorial biodiversity visited by the bee at different periods, and the relationships between these three datasets. Palynological analyses showed the importance of maize among crop pollens and that of weeds during the food shortage period. Pollen protein varied from 16% to 29% and lipids from 7% to 24%. The contribution of different habitats to pollen harvest, was from crops (62%), woods (32%), grasslands (4%), and gardens (1%).