The environment significantly impacts the lives of bees and their feeding. This study aimed to investigate bee foraging using melissopalynological analysis and DNA metabarcoding in intensive farming, reserved, and urbanized areas. The highest alpha diversity was observed in the reserved and intensive farming areas. The urbanized area had less diversity. In the intensive farming area, Sinapis, Helianthus, and Fagopyrum predominated; in the reserved area, Melilotus, Helianthus, and Brassica predominated. In the urbanized area, garden plants, namely radish (Raphanus sativus) and cucumber (Cucumis hystrix), and agricultural plants, namely soybean (Glycine max) and melon (Cucumis melo), were often found. The most significant agreement was between the rbcL and the melissopalynological analysis. The ITS2 revealed equal matches with both rbcL and melissopalynology, but this marker missed or underestimated some genera. Trifolium pretense and Brassica nigra were identified simultaneously by the melissopalinology method and two genetic markers in DNA metabarcoding. The species Convolvulus arvensis, Melilotus officinalis, Echium vulgare, Brassica rapa, Helianthus divaricatus, and Onobrychis viciifolia were found in all ecological areas. Imperfect databases impose some limits in the identification of some taxa using metabarcoding. The further research and expansion of plant databases is needed. Studying the food preferences of bees in different environmental conditions and landscapes is necessary to develop measures to preserve their populations.

The environment significantly impacts the life of bees and their feeding. This study aimed to investigate bee foraging using melissopalynological analysis and DNA metabarcoding in ​​intensive farming, reserved, and urbanized areas. The highest alpha diversity was observed in the reserved and in the intensive farming areas. The urbanized area has less diversity. In the intensive farming area predominated: Sinapis, Helianthus, and Fagopyrum; in the reserved area: Melilotus, Helianthus, and Brassica. In the urbanized area garden plants: radish (Raphanus sativus) and cucumber (Cucumis hystrix) and agricultural plants: soybean (Glycine max) and melon (Cucumis melo) were often found. The most significant agreement was between the rbcL and the melissopalynological analysis. The ITS2 revealed equal matches with both rbcL and melissopalynology but this marker missed or underestimated some genera. Trifolium pretense and Brassica nigra, were identified simultaneously by three analyses. Species Convolvulus arvensis, Melilotus officinalis, Echium vulgare, Brassica rapa, Helianthus divaricatus, and Onobrychis viciifolia were found in all ecological areas. Imperfect databases put some limits for identification of some taxa using metabarcoding. Further research and expansion of plant databases is needed. Studying the food preferences of bees in different environmental conditions and landscapes is necessary to develop measures to preserve their population.

Honey is a natural, healthy product obtained by honey bees from flower nectar or honeydew. They collect and process it, adding specific bee substances and storing them in honeycombs in the hive. Honey is a product of both plant and animal (bee) origin. Bees produce flower honey from the nectar of flowering plants and honeydew from the sweet secretions of plants or insects. The study of honey's botanical composition allows us to determine its type and assess its quality. In addition, determining plant components bees consume allows us to judge their food preferences and the availability of food resources in a particular region. Our study aimed to determine honey's botanical composition from an ecologically clean, protected area of Northern Kazakhstan using melissopalinological analysis. In total, 1181 pollen types (41%) were found in all honey samples at the family level, 877 at the genus level (30.4%), and 824 at the species level (28.6%). The dominant plant families in the honey samples were Fabaceae (Leguminosae), Asteraceae (Compositae), Polygonaceae, and Boraginaceae. At the genus level, Helianthus, Fagopyrum, Echium, Brassica, and Onobrychis accounted for the most significant number. The main plant species found in the honey samples were Helianthus annuus L., Fagopyrum esculentum Moench, Echium vulgare L., Onobrychis arenaria, Brassica napus L., Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall. The plant species identified by melissopalinological analysis are characteristic of the region of Northern Kazakhstan, based on climatic and geographical conditions and the use of agricultural land, which confirms the effectiveness and applicability of this method for determining the botanical composition of honey.