-M-The Research on The Bee Resources of T i b e t

.Ken Zaijing Sun Qingliai Ren Xuehui

I n s t i t u t e of Apicultural Research , Chinese- Ac-ad emy of

A g r i c u l t u r a l Sciences 100093 Xiangshan, Beijing , China

Int./ ocluc I i on

Tibet is s i t u a t e d in soulhwest part of China with t o l a l area of

120 sguare Kilometers . It is the main body of Qiii - Zang Plateau

with average elevation over 4000 meters . Tibet has some huge

mountains . Ximalaya mountains in south ; Kunlun Mountains and

Tonggula Mountains in north ; Hengduan Mountains in east;Gandis

Mountains and Nianqinlonggii la Mountains cross Tibet in the middle

form west to east. Yaluzangbu River passes though' south Tibet .

Rivers Jinsha , Lanchang and iN'u are in East Tibet . There are also

lots of Lake.', in the plateau . So Tibet has many kinds of

landforms , such as . p l a t e a u , moun t ai n land, g I ac i er, dcser t, lake

basin ,meadow , canyon , etc . Tibet can be divided into four

parts . north Tibet, plateau , south Tibet valley floor , Xiraalaya

Mountain Area and East Tibet canyou area . The varied topography,

latiude and elevation form climate diversity of Tibet audit has a l i

five zones :tropical , subtropical , temperate , boreal and

frigid zones . Different ecological types and vegetation exist in

Tibet and Tibet has abundant nectar plants . There are abundant

honeybee resourese in south,, southeast and east parts of Tibet.

! Honeybee Resources

c _La-5L? P^bricius . According to the morn.home t r i c o'f

samples from Cuona County , they are s i m i l a r to CJiinese honeybee in

south China , body color grey-yeI low, worker bees with light

pubesceuce in thorax , 2— 3' yellow rings in abdomen and a dark

yellow ring in the joint between thorax and abdomen.Body length {2

— 4mm , thorax width 3 --4mm , wing stretch 16 -- 18mm, tongue length

4.9 --5.1mm , r i g h t fore wing 8. 7-- 8. 9mm, cubi ta I index 3.6 --S

width of post m a r g i n of slernite 4. 4inra ; 8 setae in pollen brush

with the 2nd seta near the ''rd seta. AEJLS_ c_er_ana ma in ly

v a l l e y of Yaluzangbu River, Shan Jiang v a l l e y in oast T i b e t and

Chayu County in southeast Tibet, with the e l e v a t i o n lower then

3300 meters. Most Apj_s cer_a_na colonies are fp.ral and build

their nest in tree holes, cavities in mountain arid w a l l of houses.

Management technique for men kept colonies is disadvaneed; most of

them kept in wood tubs., some even kept in wall holes of house and

honey y i e l d rather low, about 3-^-6 kg per tub a year.

2- Apjj; \°-S?l*—s— s mJth* The biggest honey bee species of the

world. Body length 17^-]8nn, no clear sifference of body size among

worker, drone and queen bees. Body black, abdomen dark brown,

white pubesecence rings among abdonen segments, forewing brown.

Flagellum of antenna with the 1st subsegment much longer than the

3rd1 one and froa 3rd to 10th subsegment the length of each

subsegment bigger than its width. AJUJ> loboriosa mainly

distribute in the south slope of Xiwalaya Mountains. Longjiao,

Chola, Yadong and Bito County; the sharp turn area of Yaluzangbu

Rivrer. Bond, Linzhi and Mi tin County; Chayi County, southeast

Tibet, with elevation lower than 3300m. This species is a feral

species and builds its nests (one comb nest) on c l i f f s some tens

to one hundred meters above the ground. Apis luj i sj* is fierce,

easy to migrateand good at collecting nectar. Local people distroy

tilt nests and extract honey, usually 40-60kg per colony.

1 Ajpis d_orsat_a Fabricius» Body length 16 vl?i»in, next only to

Apis Jojiori osa, mainly distributes in Chayi County, with elevation

lower than 3000ffl. They build their nests (one comb nest) in tall

treies in broad leave forest. Behavior and foraging capability

s i m i t a r fo those of Apis loboriosa.

4. Ap i .v m e l l i f e r a L. . Linzhi County introduced this speeies to

orchards in 1975 and developed a few colonies. But, soon these

coloies collapsed due to the bad management. Because of traffic,

migratory beekeeping to Ti-bet is very d i f f i c u l t . So there are few

Ap i' •; m e U i f e r a colonies in T e b i t.

Evaluation of Honeybee Resorce

1. Among all (i honey bee species 4 species d i s t r i b u t e in Tibet.

2. W i l d honeybee resources are .abundant.

3. Thfi d i s t r i b u t i o n is not balanced, m a i n l y in south, easl and

southeast parts (.with lower elevation).

4. Management technigue is disadvanced, only a few movable

frame-hive kept colonies in Bomi County and Chayi County; most kept

colonies are in wood tubs.

Suggestion for Development

1. Reform management terhnigne for Ap i s cerana colonies, replace

wood tubs with movable -frame hives, hive the feral colonies, and

set up experiment station in Linzhi or Changdu, Tibet.

2. Introduce Api? mellife^ra colorlies, and set up experiment

station in Linzhi or Changdu, Tibet.

3. Train beekeeping technicians for Tibet.i|4. Set up preservation area for Ap_rs lobor iosa colonies in the

sharp turn area of Valuzangbu River.

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Re f erence

(1) T i b e t crop resources investigation team, 1987, Symposium of

Tibet crop resouces investigation. Chiniese Agricutural Sciences

press."

(2) Ren Zaijing and Suu Qinghai, 1986, On honeybee resources of

Tibet, Chinese Apiculture, 5.

(3) Kuang Bonyu, et al, 1986, The spacies of genus Apis in China,••:-;'•.:• : ' I

Chinese Apiculture,! 5 .

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