Perspectives of Pollinators
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3/20/2018 Pollinator Conservation • Importance of pollinators Overview • Meet the pollinators • Habitat Needs • What you can do sunflower bee (specialist), Svastra or Eucera sp. Sudie Daves Thomas High quality, well managed natural habitat (Longleaf pine with herbaceous understory Wildlife Biologist maintained by fire), Berkeley County Natural Resources Conservation Service Specialist bees eat pollen only from one genus or family, but may collect nectar from other plants What is the Xerces Society? The Importance of Pollinators; a review Endangered species Pollinator conservation Since 1971, the Society has worked to protect wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Xerces blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces), the first U.S. butterfly to go extinct due to human Aquatic conservation activities. Butterfly conservation Nancy Lee Adamson Pollinator Conservation Specialist Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation & bumble bee USDA-NRCS East National Technology Support Photos: California on wild bergamot NRCS and Ed Ross Center, Greensboro, NC Photo: Nancy Adamson The Importance of Pollinators Pollination The Importance of Pollinators Pollination and Human Nutrition Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from the anther (male) to stigma (female) of the same or another flower. Food that depends on insect pollination Food that • 35% of crop production, worldwide • Self-pollination: transfer depends on • Over $18 to $27 billion value of crops in U.S. ($217 billion insect between flowers of the worldwide) same plant pollination • One in three mouthfuls of food and drink we consume • Cross-pollination: • Cucumbers transfer between plants • Cantaloupe bumble bees, • Self-fertile: don’t require • Watermelon Bombus impatiens on squash cross-pollination, but • Blueberries quality and yield improve with cross-pollination • Strawberries • Peaches • Raspberries • Pumpkins • Many more… Morse RA, Calderone NW. 2000. The value of honey bees as pollinators of U.S. crops in 2000. Bee Culture 128: 1–15. Photo: Nancy Adamson Klein et al. 2007. Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc. R. Soc. B 274: 303-313. Photo: USDA-ARS/Peggy Greb 1 3/20/2018 The Importance of Pollinators Bugs Drive the System The Importance of Pollinators Multiple Benefits of Pollinator Habitat Benefits to Other Wildlife: Pollinators and other insects are food for wildlife • Pollinator-produced fruits and seeds comprise 25% of the global bird and 96% percent of terrestrial birds rear their young on insects mammal diets Photo: Jeff Vanuga, NRCS • Pollinators are food for other wildlife (spiders, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, terrestrial birds) Photo: Sudie Thomas • Pollinator habitat is directly Photo: Nancy Adamson compatible with the needs of other Photo: Terry Spivey, USFS wildlife, such as songbirds Good cover, food, & open foraging • 85% quail chick’s diet is insects • Eat seeds when older Photo: Reg Daves http://www.tn.gov/twra/pdfs/bwhitebasics.pdf Photo: Reg Daves © Sierra Vision Stock Photo: Nancy Adamson The Importance of Pollinators Insect Pollinators Are Ecological Keystones Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies and Moths About 700 species of butterflies & 13,000 species of moths in US More than 85% of flowering plants require an animal, mostly insects, to move pollen. long-tailed skipper Ollerton, J., R. Winfree, and S. Tarrant. 2011. How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals? Epargyreus clarus Oikos 120: 321-326. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x. Potts, S.G., J.C. Biesmeijer, C. Kremen, P. Neumann, O. Schweiger, and W. E. Kunin. 2010. Global pollinator delines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends in Ecology and Evoluntion. 25(6): 345-353. Photo: Eric Mader Photo: Nancy Adamson Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies Photo: Jennifer Hopwood © Douglas Tallamy (Unv of Delaware) 2 3/20/2018 Meet the Pollinators: Butterflies Meet the Pollinators: Moths Sip nectar Noctuid moths and hawkmoths significant pollinators Photo: Sudie Thomas Photo: Reg Daves Photo: Reg Daves Photo: Dave Kastner Photo: Nancy Adamson Photo: MJ Hatfield Lepidoptera food needs: Caterpillars are host specific Meet the Pollinators: Flies Co-evolution has led to Eat pollen and nectar for energy many specialists. Look for mates around flowers Lay eggs on flowers Incidental pollination yucca moths, Tegeticula yuccasella Photo: Nancy Adamson Photo: Mace Vaughan (Xerces Society) Meet the Pollinators: Wasps Whitted Bowers Beetles on Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) Meet the Pollinators: Beetles Wasps need key resources such as pollen and nectar from a variety of flowers. The true wasps have stingers that they use to capture insects or spiders for food for their larvae. Golden Digger wasp on indian hemp Photo: Nancy Adamson Potter wasp on black-eyed susan it is estimated that there are 52 native plant species pollinated by great golden digger wasp on dogbane beetles in North America north of Mexico. They are responsible delta flower scarab and other tiny beetle for pollinating 88% of the 240,000 flowering plants globally. Photo: Nancy Adamson on mountain mint, Pycnanthemum sp. Photo: Nancy Adamson 3 3/20/2018 Bees: The Most Important Pollinators Bumble bees: Excellent crop pollinators • Pollinators of red clover, Bombus ternarius on blueberry, tomato, cucurbits Vaccinium sp. Bees are the most effective pollinators bumble bee on blazing star, Liatris spicata • More efficient than honey • Bees actively collect and transport pollen bees for blueberry, cranberry, • Bees exhibit flower constancy cucurbits (squash, melon) • Bees regularly forage in area around nest • Active in cool and wet weather & “buzz” pollinate Bombus impatiens & B. griseocollis on squash Bees are the most agriculturally mining bee, Andrena sp., on apple important Photos: Nancy Adamson pollinators Photos:, Nancy Adamson, Steve Javorek (AgCanada) Bees evolved from wasps & became vegetarians! Bees are great pollen movers Bees evolved to better collect pollen & nectar Bee diet (pollen & nectar) & hairiness make them especially effective pollinators branched hair leafcutter (aka megachilid) bee long tongues bumble bee scopa: pollen-carrying hairs bumble bee on squash Photos: Ralph Hozenthal, Mace Vaughan, Steve Buchmann (on abdomen or hind legs) Photo: Nancy Adamson Native Bee Crop Specialists Wild Pollinators: Better Quality Pollination 2013 research highlights importance of native bees: Wild bees Squash Bees improved fruit set twice as much as honey bees. • Ground-nesting directly at the base of squash plants Better quality pollination relates to cross-pollination, the ability to buzz pollinate, and other ways bees interact with flowers. • Active in early morning hours (before sunrise) • Pollinate flowers before honey bees begin foraging1 • 67% of 87 sites studied across the U.S. had all pollination needs met by squash bees2 honey andrenid bees bee We still need honey bees since we can manage them and move them to crops. 1. Tepedino, V. J. 1981. The pollination efficiency of the squash bee (Peponapis pruinosa) and the honey bee (Apis mellifera) on summer squash (Cucurbita pepo). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 54:359-377. Garibaldi, L. A. et al.. 2013. Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey bee abundance. Photo: Eric Mader 2. Jim Cane (USDA ARS Logan Bee Lab). 2011. Personal communication Science 339 (6127) : 1608-1611. Photos: Nancy Adamson Photo: Nancy Adamson 4 3/20/2018 Buzz Pollination by Native Bees Recognize pollinators: Native bee diversity Example: Cherry tomatoes When native bees were present, Sungold cherry tomato production almost tripled. Photos: Nancy Adamson Video online highlights buzz pollination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_etyEdu9fQ Greenleaf, S. S.,and C. Kremen. 2006. Wild bee species increase tomato production and respond differently to surrounding land use in Northern California. Biological Conservation 133:81-87. carpenter bee and andrenid bee Perdita minima from desert SW Photo: Anne Berblinger Photos: Stephen L. Buchmann Hymenoptera: Bees, wasps, ants, & sawflies Three broad groups of native bees Rare Behaviors •Social (mostly ants & sawflies, a few wasps & bees) •Honey production (extremely rare) bumble bees (social) >3,600 native bee species in the US—most are solitary species, not colonial ~700 native bee species in the eastern US ~500 in South Carolina ground-nesting (solitary) Most bees are solitary •No colony or honey stores to defend, therefore not defensive/aggressive- so only sting if grabbed – tell kids! •Females collect nectar and pollen every trip cavity-nesting sweat bee, Agapostemon sp., on sunflower Photo: Nancy Adamson (solitary) Photos: Mace Vaughan, Rollin Coville, Elaine Evans Bumble bees, Bombus spp. Life cycle of a bumble bee colony • 45 species in U.S.,~26 in East (16-17 Winter: Hibernating queen Fall: Mated queens species of bumble bees in SC) seek overwintering • Social colonies founded by single queen sites • Annual colonies--last only one season Spring: Nest • Nest may contain 25-400 workers establishment • Nests in abandoned rodent burrows or and egg laying under lodged grasses Fall: New Conserve brush piles, queens un-mowed areas leave the nest and mate Bombus vagans on clover Fall: Old queen dies Summer: Colony peak Photos: Elaine Evans, Nancy Adamson Illustration: David Wysotski 5 3/20/2018 Ground nesting solitary bees Life cycle of a solitary bee Roughly 70% of bee spp. nest underground • Resemble ant & ground beetle nests