ESTUDO DA COMPOSIÇÃO FLORÍSTICA E CARACTERIZAÇÃO POLINÍFERA UTILIZADAS POR Melipona subnitida Ducke, NA REGIÃO DA ILHA GRANDE DO PAULINO, TUTÓIA, MARANHÃO, BRASIL

Abstract

The identification of the species which composes the flora and fauna of a determined region is important for the knowledge of the natural resources disposable therein, allowing the obtaining of basic information for wider studies about the ecological characteristics of a determined habitat or ecosystem. The present work aims to realize a floristic survey, in order to identify the apicultural plants that supply nectar for the honey formation and identify the various types of pollen found in the samples of the honey jars stored from the bee Jandaíra (Melipona subnitida Ducke). The study was realized in the municipality of Tutóia-MA. This island belongs to the Delta do Parnaíba Environmental Protection Area. The thesis contemplates three chapters, in the first chapter of the work, were presented data about the several aspects of the morphology and of the syndromes of pollination. For the characterization of the syndromes of pollination we considered the morphology, the size of the flower, the attractive (color and odor) of the flower, besides of the resources (nectar, flowers, pole, flower, fragrance, resin, oil), for the floral attributes were considered besides these ones previously mentioned, the sexual system, symmetry and the attraction unity. The syndrome of pollination more frequent was the melitophile followed by anemophile and falenophile. The floral characteristics found had wide variation of symmetry, format and coloration and size. And the registering of attributes of flowers with format of disc type (cup) zygomorphous symmetry, yellow color and with odor contributed to the syndrome of melitophile being the most representative which confirms the importance of the bees to the pollination in the island of Grande Paulino. The second chapter treats about the pollinial analysis of honey of Melipona subnitida of a Restinga area, seeking to recognize the main floral sources used by these bees. The collects of honey occurred monthly in the period of jul/2017 to jun/2018. The honey samples were submitted to the process of acetolysis, for visualization of the pollinial structures. A total of 54 pollinial types distributed in 26 families were identified. The major pollinial variety is found in Fabaceae. In the samples of honey through the year were observed pollen of Copaifera martii, showing the great meliponicola potential of the plant in this region. Besides that, the results demonstrated the important participation of species of wild plants in the formation of the honey in the area of study. The third chapter contemplates the survey of flora and fauna visited by the bees in municipality of Tutóia. The preliminary list of species with occurrence in Tutóia was elaborated based in the data bank from INCT and specialized bibliography. It were identified 110 species, 87 genres, 48 families. Among these 110 species, 46 are visited by the bees. The families of major importance for the bees are Fabaceae with 14% (6 spp), Rubiaceae with 9% (4 spp) and Myrtaceae with 7% (3 spp). The floral resources disposable to the bees were pollen, nectar and oil. As from this study, was possible to acquire information about the plants visited by bees in the region which will help the beekeepers and melipolinists in a more rational raising of its colonies.