Traditional management system for Apis dorsata in submerged forests in southern Vietnam and central Kalimantan
Author(s)
Eva Crane, Vu Van Luyen, Vincent Mulder And Tran Cong Ta
Abstract
This paper describes a management system for Apis dorsata, reported in 1902 by Fougeres and others from the southern Mekong delta in Vietnam, and in 1933 by de Mol's from the central lake region of the upper Kapuas, Kalimantan, Indonesia (fig. 12). We found it still practised in the Mekong delta in 1989. A. dorsata lives in the Asian tropics; a colony produces much honey and wax in a single comb several square metres in area, suspended from a strong lateral support in the open. Many colonies migrate seasonally, living in two or more rich forage areas in the course of each year. In the southernmost provinces in Vietnam, Minh Hai, Kien Giang and Hau Giang, which are west of the Mekong river, A. dorsata is known to migrate between mangrove forests on the coast and the swamp forests of Melaleuca leucadendron farther inland, which seasonally produce much pollen and nectar.
