For the first time, in the mountain-forest ecosystems of Crimea of parcel organization level adjacent to the beehives of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), a species composition of plants representing the melittophilic complex has been identified which provides honey bees with pollen and nectar during the entire warm season. The complex includes 57 species of plants where the honey bees that collect pollen or nectar have been registered. The core of the melittophilic complex consisted of 35 species of plants, the proportion of simultaneously flowering (in any period of the season) flowers of each one exceeded 2.5 % of the total number of flowers of all flowering species at this time. In early spring, the list of such species included 15 plant species belonging to 14 genera and 12 families. In this period, the decisive forage value (species whose flower share exceeded 10 % of all flowering flowers) was represented by 4 plant species: Cornus mas L., Corylus avellana L., Dentaria quinquefolia M. B. and Prunus divaricata Ledeb., the important value (the flowers share made <10 %, but >2.5 %) had 4 species: Ficaria verna Huds., Galanthus plicatus M. Bieb., Primula vulgaris Huds. and Scilla bifolia L. In spring, the forage base made up 20 plant species belonging to 18 genera and 7 families. Four species had decisive forage value: Cerasus avium L., Malus sylvestris L., Prunus spinosa L. and Pyrus elaeagrifolia Jacq., 7 species had important value: Crataegus monogyna Jacq., Fragaria vesca L., Lamium purpureum L., Crepis pulchra L., Prunus domestica L., Thlaspi arvense L. and Trifolium ambiguum M. Most of the species belonged to the Rosaceae family (10 species). In summer period, the forage basis comprised 20 species of melittophilic plants belonging to 19 genera and 9 families. 5 species had decisive value: Cichorium intybus L., Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop., Echium vulgare L., Medicago sativa L. and Trifolium ambiguum M., the important value had 7 species: Achillea millefolium L., Betonica officinalis L., Ballota nigra L., Centaurea diffusa Lam., Clematis vitalba L., Linaria vulgaris Mill. and Onobrychis sativa Lam. The representatives of the Asteraceae family (7 species) dominated; the representatives of Fabaceae (5 species) and Lamiaceae (4 species) also played a significant role. In autumn, there were the following food sources for honey bees: Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) DC., Centaurea diffusa Lam., Erýngium campéstre L., Carduus crispus L., and on the steppe slopes of the mountains: Scilla autumnalis L. and Crocus speciosus M. B. It has been established that the greatest number of melittophilic plant species in the studied mountain-forest biogeocenoses grow on parcels of forest edges and glades, steppe slopes of the mountains in their natural state. Oak-hornbeam and floodplain tree-shrub parcels have a smaller variety of species, but are essential for bees in early spring and spring..
Floral food resources for Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in a mountain forest area in Uruguay
