Mapping honeylands of the European part of Russia

The paper suggests an original technique for mapping the honey resources of Russia, which has a number of advantages. Firstly, it is based on the actual (specific content of a melliferous plant pollen in the honey) rather than potential (area of growth of melliferous plant, honey production) characteristics of melliferous plants. Secondly, the use of GIS technology and the results of pollen (melissopalinological) analysis made it possible to identify the areas where the melliferous plants are of particular importance for producing monofloral honey and the regions of their subordinate importance. Thirdly, a clear georeferencing to the place of honey harvest (the location of an apiary) makes it possible to describe in detail both zonal and regional features of the honey harvest. Thanks to many years of work, Our long-lasting research covered all natural areas of the European part of Russia with widespread beekeeping, from the forest tundra (Arkhangelsk oblast) to the subtropics (Krasnodar Krai). Pollen analysis of 858 honey samples from 45 regions showed that the main melliferous plants of the studied territory include Tilia spp., Helianthus annuus, Melilotus sp., Amoria repens and A. hybrida, Robinia pseudoacacia, Fagopyrum esculentum and Salix sp. They provide for the production of 75% of monofloral honeys. The basic group also includes Echium vulgare, Linaria vulgaris, Coriandrum sativum, Carduus sp., Brassica napus, Sinapis sp., Castanea sativa, Chamerion angustifolium, Angelica sylvestris and Onobrychis sp. It has been established that in the north (forest­tundra and taiga zones) the honey is gathered from the majority of natural melliferous plants (Salix sp., Rubus idaeus, Chamerion angustifolium, etc.). The areas of honey harvest from Amoria repens and Tilia spp. are further south in the forest zone The principal melliferous plants supplying monofloral honeys in forest-steppes and steppes are fodder and agricultural crops (Helianthus annuus, Fagopyrum esculentum, Sinapis sp., Coriandrum sativum, Onobrychis sp. and Melilotus sp.), as well as weeds (Carduus sp. and Echium vulgare). An exception is Brassica napus, providing for the monofloral honey harvest from the subtaiga to the steppe zone. Productive honey gathering from Robinia pseudoacacia and Castanea stiva is in the southwest. The wide-range melliferous plants are Salix sp., Rubus idaeus, Amoria repens, Melilotus sp., Echium vulgare and Linaria vulgaris; their pollen was found in both northern and southern samples of honey. The evidence obtained substantially supplement the existing ideas about the melliferous zones of the European part of Russia and can be further applied to diagnose the geographical origin of the Russian honey.

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