{
  "abstract": "Pollen identification from honey (melissopalynology) is of great economic and consumer relevance. Traditional microscopy is time-consuming and dependent on expert knowledge, thus limiting high-throughput analyses. We tested whether pollen images generated with Multispectral Imaging Flow Cytometry (MIFC) classified by machine learning (ML) (convolution neural networks (CNNs) and random forest (RF)) can serve as a fast and reproducible method for identifying pollen in honey. We examined how the classification of honey pollen is affected by images from different matrices (anther and honey samples), how results compare with traditional microscopic analysis and used a set of human-interpretable image features to better explain ML results. The study focused on the six common target pollen in honey Brassica, Castanea, Centaurea, Helianthus, Phacelia and Tilia type. A classifier trained with a combination of anther and honey brightfield and fluorescence images provided the best predictions for 13 monofloral and 10 polyfloral honeys. Yielding pollen identification results comparable to microscopy, three times more pollen can be evaluated, and a measurement time of a maximum of 10 min, the method demonstrates its high potential as a powerful screening tool in melissopalynology.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.",
    "German Centre for integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.",
    "Data-intensive Systems and Visualization Group (dAI.SY), Technische Universität Ilmenau, Ilmenau, Germany.",
    "Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety LAVES - Institute of Apiculture, Celle, Germany.",
    "Institute for Bee Protection, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Braunschweig, Germany.",
    "Zoological Institute, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.",
    "University of Hohenheim, State Institute of Bee Research, Stuttgart, Germany.",
    "Department Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.",
    "Thuenen Institute of Biodiversity, Braunschweig, Germany.",
    "Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.",
    "Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.",
    "CICYTTP (CONICET-Prov. ER-UADER), Laboratorio Interdisciplinario de Biología y Genética Molecular, Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste (CONICET-UNNE), Corrientes, Argentina.",
    "Department Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. thomas.hornick@ufz.de.",
    "German Centre for integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. thomas.hornick@ufz.de.",
    "Department Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. susanne.dunker@ufz.de.",
    "German Centre for integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. susanne.dunker@ufz.de."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 12,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Franziska Walther",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7463-4837"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Martin Hofmann",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4440-3317"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Martina Janke"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Silvio Erler"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Elsa Friedrich"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Manuel Treder"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Demetra Rakosy"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        9
      ],
      "name": "W Stanley Harpole",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3404-9174"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Patrick Mäder",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6871-2707"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Alicia Berdún"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12,
        13
      ],
      "name": "Thomas Hornick"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        14,
        15
      ],
      "name": "Susanne Dunker",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7276-776X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3bwqmn56077g0.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41538-026-01188-6",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13722696",
  "id": "3bwqmn56077g0",
  "issns": [
    "2396-8370"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963353",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
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      "openalex",
      "1109|Bee Products Chemical Analysis"
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  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13722696?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13722696",
  "pmid": "42963353",
  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3bwqmn56077g0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T03:21:21Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42963353",
      "source": "europepmc",
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    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:21:28Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13722696",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-026-01188-6"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1109|Bee Products Chemical Analysis",
      "subfield": "zoology-behaviour"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Profiling of pollen in honey using multispectral imaging flow cytometry.",
  "title_text": "Profiling of pollen in honey using multispectral imaging flow cytometry.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-04T12:21:28Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3bwqmn56077g0",
  "venue": "NPJ science of food",
  "versions": []
}