Resource partitioning among Apis mellifera and Apis cerana under mid-hill conditions of himachal pradesh

摘要

Activity of the honeybee is largely governed by available bee forage and competition among bee species and other nectarivores. With the successful establishment of the exotic bee, Apis mellifera, competition for available food resources has arisen with the native bee, A. cerana. Little work appears to have been done to identify and evaluate important bee plants in relation to hive bees, although, a lot of information on the bee plants of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Western Ghats is available (Atwal et al. 1970; divan and Rao, 1971; Sharma and Raj; 1985). The present study was undertaken to find out whether bees of the two species are utilising the same floral sources or diversified ones.