Bee bread is a food source for larvae formed through the storage of plant pollen collected by honeybees in honeycomb cells, which undergoes microbial fermentation to become durable and easily digestible. Studying the correlation between bacterial diversity in bee bread of the Chinese honeybee (Apis cerana cerana), pollen-source plants can further elucidate the interactions among plants, pollinators and microorganisms in natural ecosystems. High-throughput sequencing was used to analyze pollen-source plants and bacterial DNA in bee bread collected from the Simian Mountain area of Chongqing at different altitudes (500, 700 and 900 m) and during different months (May, July and September). A total of 26 orders, 44 families and 80 genera of pollen-source plants were identified. The three most frequently occurring genera were Castanea, Araliaand Rubus. The bacterial community in the bee bread showed significant heterogeneity in operational taxonomic unit (OTU) distribution, with Apilactobacillus being absolutely dominant. Beta diversity analysis revealed significant differences in pollen-source plant composition across different months and altitude gradients (R2=0.680 8, p=0.001 0; R2=0.194 5, p=0.003 0).The bacterial community composition differed significantly across months (R2=0.597 0, p=0.001 0), but not across altitude gradients (R2=0.081 0, p=0.066 0).At the OTU level, pollen-source plants and bee bread bacterial communities were significantly correlated (N=27, R=0.199 1, p=0.004 0).〖JP〗Significant correlations were also observed within each sampling month (May: N=9, R=0.323 6, p=0.048 6; July: N=9, R=0.358 0, p=0.025 3; September: N=9, R=0.339 0, p=0.043 0).Correlation analysis at the genus level indicated significant associations between certain pollen-source plants and bee bread bacteria, such as between Apilactobacillus and Zea (r=0.800, p<0.05).These results demonstrate that the diversity of pollen-source plants significantly influences and determines the structure and composition of bacterial communities in Chinese honeybee bee bread in the Simian Mountain area of Chongqing. It provides a scientific basis for conserving local Chinese honeybee populations, clarifying dominant fermentative bacteria in bee bread and developing improved artificial bee bread products. It also contributes to a deeper understanding of tripartite plant-pollinator-microbe interactions in natural ecosystems.