Monday, December 11, 2006 - 8:47 AM
0318

Native bee community responses to production practices and adjacent habitats in blueberry agro-ecosystems

Julianna Tuell, tuelljul@msu.edu, Michigan State University, Entomology, 202 CIPS Bldg, East Lansing, MI and Rufus Isaacs, isaacsr@msu.edu, Michigan State University, Department of Entomology, Center For Integrated Plant Systems, East Lansing, MI.

Blueberries are native to North America and their flowers are best suited to pollination by bees that are able to sonicate anthers to release pollen, a behavior characteristic of many native bees. To address the need for sustainable pollination by a diverse community of bees, a three-year study was conducted in Michigan to identify the bee community in blueberry fields and its response to blueberry production practices. Bee abundance and species diversity were determined using colored pan traps placed in eleven commercial and two semi-abandoned blueberry fields during bloom of three growing seasons. Bees were identified to species and pollen was obtained and identified to determine the proportion of pollen from Vaccinium spp. (blueberry). This revealed that Halictid and Andrenid bees were the most common native bees trapped, and enabled identification of several Andrenid species with high fidelity to blueberry. The suitability of field perimeter as bee habitat, abundance of non-crop floral resources, and intensity of production practices associated with insect pest management, soil cultivation, and field perimeter maintenance were quantified in each of the sampled fields. Bee abundance was negatively affected by increasing insecticide toxicity and abundance of surrounding blueberry fields, whereas it was positively correlated with the abundance of ditches near the field. The implications for future pollinator conservation programs will be discussed.


Species 1: Hymenoptera Andrenidae
Species 2: Hymenoptera Halictidae

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