EEB440H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter N/A: Western Honey Bee, California Oak Woodland, Pollination
27 Apr 2016
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Crop pollination from native bees at risk from agricultural intensification. Farmers tend to import colonies of honeybees (apis mellifera) for pollination services to be performed. These colonies are threatened by pesticides, disease, and other factors. Local bees also pollinate, the amount of which is done by them though is not known. Looked at native bee contribution to farms varying in their location. On organic ones, full pollination services are performed by native bees. Conventional farms however were neglected due to the absence of many native bees. Diversity was essential for sustaining sufficient pollination. Africanized a. mellifera, when congregrating with european colonies, confer aggressive traits to them. Investigated contribution of native bee communities to crop pollination and how this varied with increasing agricultural intensification. Vary in farm management type (organic versus conventional) and isolation from large areas of oak woodland (near or far). Conventional farms often use pesticides that are also toxic to bees.
