Pollinator diversity in apple orchards of central New York

Recent declines in honey bee health and increasing demand for pollination services highlight a need for enhancing wild pollinators in agriculture. Apple, an economically important crop in New York state, provides a good agricultural setting to enhance wild pollinators; orchards provide relatively stable environments for nesting and require bee pollination for successful yields. Since little is known about wild bee pollinators of apple, we net surveyed bees visiting apple blossoms in 11 orchards of Central New York, both conventional and organic. Study-wide, over 60 bee species visited apple. Due to their widespread distribution and size, select Andrena species may prove important alternative pollinators on which to focus future enhancement efforts.