Author Topic: Alternative Pollinators  (Read 634 times)

Saltcayman

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Alternative Pollinators
« on: August 22, 2018, 02:42:47 PM »
Honeybees are under siege, straining the business of farming. Now growers are turning to other bee species to help their crops.

https://alpha.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/science/bees-pollination-farming.html?action=click&module=Discovery&pgtype=Homepage

The Integrated Crop Pollination Project, a public-private partnership funded by the Department of Agriculture, has explored habitat enhancement for wild bees, improving farm management practices, and the use of diverse or “alternative” bee species.

Of the thousands of species of bees in North America, just four other than the honeybee are already used or almost ready for use on a commercial scale in the United States, according to a review published last year in Basic and Applied Ecology. (Wild bees also make important contributions to crop pollination.)

The bumblebee, Bombus impatiens, can be an effective alternative to honeybees for pollinating watermelons and lowbush blueberries. The alfalfa leafcutter bee, Megachile rotundata, is responsible for pollinating most of the alfalfa grown for seed production.

The ground-nesting alkali bee, Nomia melanderi, also pollinates alfalfa, and the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, is effective for tree fruits and nuts.