Abstract: Non-involvement of communities along the Eastern Mau in forest conservation has been implicated for the severe degradation of Eastern Mau. Although the Mau Forest task force has recommended synergy between traditional and scientific knowledge in forest management, conservation of threatened species, participatory forest management livelihood support for the local communities e.g. the Ogieks, extensional, technological support and a floral calendar still lacks. A floral calendar is a timetable that indicates the approximate date and duration of blossoming period of the important honey and pollen plants in the area. The extensive knowledge of type, density and quality of bee flora in a region are prerequisites for successful beekeeping. Beekeeper Ogieks in Eastern Mau lack the floral calendars documenting the bee flora and their flowering phonologies for maximum sustainable use of melliferous species. This study has constructed floral calendars which will form a basis for future studies on any possible effects of climate change and the intentional use of beekeeping as a basis for conservation of local flora. The Mariashoni, Nessuit and Kamkembu areas inhabited by Ogieks were randomly sampled as the strata; belt transects were established as per standard procedures. Bee plants were determined through observation of their foraging activities while the flowering period for the bee plants were delimited and recorded every month as per established methods. Plants were identified based on herbarium sheets and flora of tropical East Africa keys. Most bee plants foraged for one season >2months or two seasons with very few flowering for 1 season less than 2 months. Climbers formed the largest proportion (37.50%) of bee plants foraged for one season less than 2 months. There was observed a steady trend of reduction of availability of bee plants towards the dry periods of November and December that coincided with drought.Eastern Mau can support bee keeping year round as bee forage is available throughout the year, with bee plants flowering for at least a month to whole year. The peak availability of forage is in April and May (nectar flow period, 59.30%) while the Dearth period with limited bee forage is in December (10 bee plants flowering, 11.63%): Pupalia lappacea, Aloe secundiflora, Leucaena leucocephala, Malvaviscus arboreus, Acacia brevispica, Vernonia auculifera, Acacia tortilis, Combretum molle, Eucalyptus resinifera, Olea europea. The seven Acacia spp provide successive bloom mosaic year round.
Keywords: Eastern Mau, Floral calendar, bee plants, dearth, honey flow.
Title: Seasonal Availability and Floral Calendar of Apis mellifera Nectar and Pollen forage in Eastern Mau
Author: Philip Onyango, Regina Nyunja, Stephen Fedha Sikolia, George Opande
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
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