Thesis (BS Biology) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2000

Pollen loads were collected from two populations of Apis mellifera at the Loyola Bee Farm in Panabo, Davao del Norte from January to December, 1999. Acetolysis treatment of the monthly pollen collections were done prior to identification and analysis for frequency, similarity and diversity using SPSS, TWINSPAN, and correspondence analysis. There were 27 pollen types isolated from the pollen loads of the strong and weak populations. Out of these, 8 were identified at the species level, 7 at the genus and 10 at the family levels. The presence of these pollen types implies varied and multi-species plants which serve as pollen sources of the honeybees throughout the year. The dominant pollen types collected by the honeybees throughout the year come from Cocos nucifera, Momosa pudica and grass species, which indicates high fidelity of the honeybees for these species. They are also the most preferred pollen sources. The Jaccard?s Index of Similarity was found to be 93.91%. this implies highly similar pollen composition for the strong and weak populations. The 1.05 and 1.13 Shannon Wiener indices of diversity for the strong and weak populations, respectively, imply similar pollen preferences, pollen composition and fidelity in terms of vegetation sources for the two honeybee populations. Based on the result obtained, it is recommended that a pollen calendar be developed to serve as guide to beekeepers in Panabo, Davao del Norte. In addition, studies on pollen yield and vegetation distri