TRADITIONAL HONEY PRODUCTION AND BEE FLORA OF ESPIYE, TURKEY

This paper presents potential honey bee plants in Espiye (Giresun) which can be considered as a guide for beekeepers and researchers. A total of 149 taxa belonging to 125 genara and 48 families were recorded as pollen and nectary sources for honey bee colonies at Espiye (Giresun) region. Among the recorded taxa 58 were Phanerophytes, 57 taxa Hemicryptophytes, 19 taxa Therophytes, 13 taxa Cryptophytes and 2 taxa Chamaephytes. Updated nomenclature along with the families, local names, life form, flowering period and ecological status have been furnished under 94 herbs, 28 shrubs and 27 trees. Introduction Turkey is one of the countries where the honey production is at the highest level in the World (Özturk and Erkan, 2010). In the recent past, the forest area in Turkey has increased from 20.2 million/ ha to 22.3 million/ha between 1973 and 2015 (OGM, 2013-2015). Very recently, the Forest General Directorate has started to implementing the honey action plan to promote honey production and contribute to rural development (OGM, 2013-2015). As part of the action plan, up to 356 honey forests have been established and now, Turkey is in the second row in the world’s honey production and beekeeping.Turkey produces 92% of the world’s pine honey, specifically in its West Mediterranean and South Aegean regions. In Turkey, there are 57,000 registered beekeepers and 6.6 million registered hives as of 2014 (Duyum and Friedman, 2015). Sıralı (2009) reported about 300 species of natural or cultivated nectar plants from Turkey comprising about 75% of the nectar plant species in the world. The botanic origin of honey is one of the most important parameters of honey quality (Tucak et al., 2000, 2004). The taste, smell and colour of honey are changed according to the nectar of the flowers. In nature, bees visit flowers to produce honey and to take food and they collect pollen, nectar or both from plants during their visit to plants. Nectar is found in the special part of some flowers or in other organs (stem, leaves etc.). Bees visit definite organs of some herbacous and lingeous plants to collect components of honey. Therefore, bee plants can not be determined only by palynologcal studies in honey (Tew, 1998; Tutkun, 2000). Turkey is the home of three phyto-geographic regions (Euro-Siberian, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian) in terms of plant geography. Each floristic region has its own plant composition and this affects the variety, quality and authenticity of the produced honey. Furthermore, honey production in Turkey has increased to 114.471 tonnes from 54.655 tonnes in the period from 1991 to 2017 (TUİK, 2018). However, no studies on bee plants have been made in Espiye, Giresun so far. Proper taxonomic identity of bee plants of the country, more particularly in Espiye is lacking. Bingöl University, Genç Vocational School, Bingöl, Turkey. Department of Botany, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. Munzur University, Pertek Sakine Genç Vocational School, Tunceli, Turkey. Corresponding author. Email: ucakilcioglu@yahoo.com


Introduction
Turkey is one of the countries where the honey production is at the highest level in the World (Özturk and Erkan, 2010).In the recent past, the forest area in Turkey has increased from 20.2 million/ ha to 22.3 million/ha between 197322.3 million/ha between and 201522.3 million/ha between (OGM, 201322.3 million/ha between -2015)).Very recently, the Forest General Directorate has started to implementing the honey action plan to promote honey production and contribute to rural development (OGM, 2013(OGM, -2015)).As part of the action plan, up to 356 honey forests have been established and now, Turkey is in the second row in the world's honey production and beekeeping.Turkey produces 92% of the world's pine honey, specifically in its West Mediterranean and South Aegean regions.In Turkey, there are 57,000 registered beekeepers and 6.6 million registered hives as of 2014 (Duyum and Friedman, 2015).Sıralı (2009) reported about 300 species of natural or cultivated nectar plants from Turkey comprising about 75% of the nectar plant species in the world.
The botanic origin of honey is one of the most important parameters of honey quality (Tucak et al., 2000(Tucak et al., , 2004)).The taste, smell and colour of honey are changed according to the nectar of the flowers.In nature, bees visit flowers to produce honey and to take food and they collect pollen, nectar or both from plants during their visit to plants.Nectar is found in the special part of some flowers or in other organs (stem, leaves etc.).Bees visit definite organs of some herbacous and lingeous plants to collect components of honey.Therefore, bee plants can not be determined only by palynologcal studies in honey (Tew, 1998;Tutkun, 2000).
Turkey is the home of three phyto-geographic regions (Euro-Siberian, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian) in terms of plant geography.Each floristic region has its own plant composition and this affects the variety, quality and authenticity of the produced honey.Furthermore, honey production in Turkey has increased to 114.471 tonnes from 54.655 tonnes in the period from 1991 to 2017 (TUİK, 2018).However, no studies on bee plants have been made in Espiye, Giresun so far.Proper taxonomic identity of bee plants of the country, more particularly in Espiye is lacking.
Therefore, the present study aimed at producing a bee flora of Espiye, Giresun and preparing a database which will not only contribute to honey producers but also contribute greatly to the determination of honey contents.

Materials and Methods
Espiye (Giresun) is situated in the Eastern Black Sea Region (costal and inner parts), surrounded by the Gorele and Tirebolu in the east, Güce and Alucra in the South, Yağlıdere and Keşap in the west and by Black Sea in the North (Fig. 1).Espiye is located between 140 0 44'14" to 40 0 58'27" N and 38 0 37'11" to 38 0 48'39" E with an area of c. 21,100 ha.The altitude of the study area is 1600 m asl.Approximately 2,500 species have been recorded in the region and this region hosts about 28% of Turkey's flora (Dokap, 2000).Since there is no meteorological station in Espiye, the climatic data of Giresun were taken into consideration.The annual average rainfall of Giresun is 1,288.4mm and the average temperature is 14.6 °C (Table 1).The climate type of the area is humid based on Thornthwaite climate classification (TSMS, 2017).Extensive field surveys were conducted over four years from 2012 to 2016 in the villages and rural areas of Espiye (Giresun) region in different seasons.Field visits were made along with beekeepers and a total of 17 beekeepers over middle age were interviewed to collate information on the bee plants.Abundance and density of the bee and bee plant populations were observed in the field.Plant samples were collected from the field and the collected specimens were critically studied and identified.Identifications were confirmed using the Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, and List of Turkish Plants (Davis, 1965(Davis, -1985;;Davis et al., 1988;Güner et al., 2000Güner et al., , 2012)).Life forms of these plants were identified according to the Raunkiaer's system (Raunkiaer, 1937).The families are arranged alphabetically and the taxa under each family are placed in an alphabetical order.The voucher specimens have been preserved in Giresun University Herbarium.

Result and Discussion
A total of 149 plant taxa belonging to 125 genera and 48 families were identified as bee plants (Table 2).Among the identified taxa herbs are represented by 94 taxa, shrubs by 28 and trees by 27 taxa.Asteraceae and Fabaceae are the largest families represented by 17 taxa each, followed by Rosaceae with 15 taxa, Lamiaceae with 12 taxa and Ericaceae with 6 taxa (Fig. 2).The present study revealed that in the study area, 58 taxa are Phanerophytes, 57 taxa Hemicryptophytes, 19 taxa Therophytes, 13 taxa Cryptophytes and 2 taxa are Chamaephytes.The current status of honeybee plants in Espiye revealed that the identified 149 taxa were clustered into four different ecological groups comprising 69% natural, 16% ornamental, 10% cultivation and 5% naturalized.The majority of species are natural (103 taxa) followed by the ornamental (23 taxa), cultivation (15 taxa) and naturalized (8 taxa).In addition, flowering period of the identified taxa has been determined.As seen in Figure 3, the flowering period for plants in the study area is mostly between April and August.In May, many plants can be seen in flowering state in the study area.Some important natural, ornamental and naturalized bee plant species of Espiye region are shown in Figures 4 and 5. Honeybees cannot operate below 12-13°C (Korkmaz, 2015).Honeybees start to collect nectar and pollen in the month of May.Flowering in plants reach top level in Espiye in May and there is direct correlation between temperature, precipitation and flowering plants.Honeybee activity remains during May to October (Fig. 6).As seen in Figure 6, when flowering in plants accounts reach at the top level temperature is appropriate, and precipitation is at the least level.In the present study 23 ornamental and eight naturalized plant species were identified as visited by the honeybees.The presence of these plants in ecosystems causes changes in the pollen and nectar resources of the honeybees.These changes have caused both the deterioration of the functions provided by the ecosystems and the decrease of the agricultural gains.In addition, this differentiation will also cause a change in the quality of the local honeys.Therefore, on the use of mostly local indigenous species there will be a significant share in the conservation of ecosystem balance.

Fig. 2 .
Fig. 2. Distribution of bee plants according to family showing the number of taxa.