Change of Acacia mangium into Eucalyptus sp. plantation decline the number of Asian giant honeybees (Apis dorsata fabr.) colonies and their productivity: A case study in Riau, Indonesia.

Since the 1990s, to meet the requirement of pulp and paper material, the two biggest pulp and paper industries have selected Acacia mangium as the main tree planted in the dry land. Nevertheless, at the end of 2010, Eucalyptus spp. was selected to change to A. mangium. Most wild honey hunters complained that the number of wild honey has declined since the industries changed their plantation trees. To examine the effect of the change of A. mangium to Eucalyptus sp. plantation on the number of wild honey and A. dorsata colonies. This study was conducted in Kampar regency for two periods (when A. mangium existed/2006-2007 and when Eucalyptus spp. was changed to A. mangium/2016-2017). Data on honey and A. dorsata colony numbers were collected from all districts/sub-districts that surrounded A. mangium or Eucalyptus spp. plantation. Repeated measures and simple linear regression were performed to analyze the data. The transition of A. mangium into Eucalyptus sp. plantation significantly declined the number of A. dorsatàs colonies. The average number of A. dorsata colonies per Sialang tree declined from 91.82 ± 11.15 colonies/month in 2006/2007 to 4.15 ± 1.9 colonies/month in 2016/2017. In a similar trend, the transition significantly declined the number of honey production. The average honey production was 1377.22 ± 167.23 kgs in a month during 2006/2007 and declined to 20.71 ± 5.98 kgs in a month during 2016/2017. Compared to A. mangium, nectar is extra florally secreted from leaves when the species is 3 months. Different from A. mangium, silviculture management and harvesting time of Eucalyptus spp. plantation leads to the species that do not produce and has time to create flowers where nectar is produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]