Diversity & Foraging Behaviour of Insect Pollinators on Some Forest Trees in K&i Area, Distt Gurdaspur, Punjab, India

Abstract

The present study deals with the pollination of insect on selected six trees i.e. Khair (Acacia catechu): Ber (Ziziphus maurtiana), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), Amla (Emblica officinalis), Kachnar (Bauhinia variegta) & Siris (Albizzia lebbek). These have been dealt tree-wise. Diversity of insect pollinators visiting the tree, Relative abundance of the pollinators, Foraging behavior in term of:-Foraging rate, Foraging duration & loose pollen grains adhered to the body. On the basis of  the data, performance score & pollinating index (PI) of each species the pollinating efficiency ranking was done & it is observed that Apis mellifera is the most efficient pollinator of the Khair (Acacia catechu), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo) & Amla (Emblica officinalis) trees. Polistes herbreaus is the most efficient pollinator of Ber (Ziziphus maurtiana)  tree  Apis cerana is the most efficient pollinator of the  tree Kachnar (Bauhinia variegta) & Apis dorsata is the most efficient pollinator of the tree Siris (Albizzia lebbek).