Honey bees are important pollinators of South African blueberries despite their inability to sonicate

Martin, Keanu; Anderson, Bruce; Minnaar, Corneile; Jager, Marinus de

doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2020.09.030

Cited by 13 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…Nevertheless, buzz-pollinating bees are often more efficient pollinators as shown in eggplant ( Hikawa 2004 ), blueberry and cranberry ( Stubbs and Drummond 1996 , Javorek et al 2002 ), kiwifruit ( Pomeroy and Fisher 2002 , Kim et al 2005 ), and tomato ( Banda and Paxton 1991 ). In blueberries, for example, honey bees can visit flowers to collect nectar ( Javorek 2002 ), and these managed non-buzzing bees can be used to pollinate this crop ( Martin et al 2019 ). However, honey bees are inefficient pollinators of blueberries, requiring four times more visits to transfer the same amount of pollen compared to buzz-pollinating bees ( Javorek 2002 ).…”

Section: Which Crops Are Buzz Pollinated?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, honey bees are inefficient pollinators of blueberries, requiring four times more visits to transfer the same amount of pollen compared to buzz-pollinating bees ( Javorek 2002 ). The sheer abundance of honey bees in well stocked fields may, in some cases, balance their inefficiencies leading to adequate pollination ( Lomond and Larson 1983 , Aras et al 1996 , Dedej and Delaplane 2003 , Martin et al 2019 ). Yet, when honey bees are not abundant visitors to blueberries, visitation by wild bees, including buzz pollinators, improves fruit yield and fruit quality ( Nicholson and Ricketts 2019 ).…”

Section: Which Crops Are Buzz Pollinated?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Cooley

Vallejo‐Marín

2021

Journal of Economic Entomology

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Buzz-pollinated plants require visitation from vibration producing bee species to elicit full pollen release. Several important food crops are buzz-pollinated including tomato, eggplant, kiwi, and blueberry. Although more than half of all bee species can buzz pollinate, the most commonly deployed supplemental pollinator, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae; honey bees), cannot produce vibrations to remove pollen. Here, we provide a list of buzz-pollinated food crops and discuss the extent to which they rely on pollination by vibration-producing bees. We then use the most commonly cultivated of these crops, the tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), as a case study to investigate the effect of different pollination treatments on aspects of fruit quality. Following a systematic review of the literature, we statistically analyzed 71 experiments from 24 studies across different geopolitical regions and conducted a meta-analysis on a subset of 21 of these experiments. Our results show that both supplemental pollination by buzz-pollinating bees and open pollination by assemblages of bees, which include buzz pollinators, significantly increase tomato fruit weight compared to a no-pollination control. In contrast, auxin treatment, artificial mechanical vibrations, or supplemental pollination by non-buzz-pollinating bees (including Apis spp.), do not significantly increase fruit weight. Finally, we compare strategies for providing bee pollination in tomato cultivation around the globe and highlight how using buzz-pollinating bees might improve tomato yield, particularly in some geographic regions. We conclude that employing native, wild buzz pollinators can deliver important economic benefits with reduced environmental risks and increased advantages for both developed and emerging economies.

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Section: Which Crops Are Buzz Pollinated?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Which Crops Are Buzz Pollinated?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Cooley

Vallejo‐Marín

2021

Journal of Economic Entomology

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“…To determine pollination deficits and benefits of bees to the five varieties, we followed the methods of Martin et al (2021). Below we provide a brief description.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One crop where honey bees are thought to be less effective than other pollinators is blueberries. Wild and commercial blueberries are extremely reliant on insect pollination (Aras et al, 1996; MacKenzie, 1997; Dogterom et al, 2000; Fulton et al, 2015; Martin et al, 2021) and are typically pollinated by large bees. These include blueberry bees (Apidae) (Cane and Payne, 1993; Campbell et al, 2018), bumble bees (Apidae) (Mackenzie and Eickwort, 1996; Stubbs and Drummond, 2001; Javorek et al, 2002; Tuell et al, 2009; Campbell et al, 2017), and mining bees (Andrenidae) (Mackenzie and Eickwort, 1996; Javorek et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the effectiveness of honey bee pollinators for cultivated blueberries in South Africa

Martin

Anderson

Minnaar

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Globally, agricultural crops are often extremely dependent on insect pollination. Blueberries are an example of such a crop and owing to their proposed health benefits they are grown around the world, including locations where their native bumble bee pollinators do not occur. In the absence of bumble bees, blueberry pollination in South Africa and many other parts of the non-native, commercial range is performed primarily by honey bees. Despite this, the effectiveness of honey bee pollination on blueberries remains understudied. This study determined the effect of honey bee pollination on the fruit characteristics of five blueberry varieties that are extensively planted in South Africa. For each variety two metrics were calculated: 1) the benefit of bees - a comparison of fruit yields after exposure to honey bees and fruit yields after honey bee exclusion, 2) the pollination deficit - a comparison between yields after hand pollination and yields after exposure to honey bee pollinators. Honey bee pollination consistently resulted in improved yields, although the magnitude of this improvement was dependant on the variety considered. Similarly, the pollination deficit also varied considerably across varieties and while some varieties appeared to perform close to maximum potential, others appeared to perform relatively poorly under honey bee pollination. This study demonstrates that honey bees are functional pollinators of blueberries in areas where native blueberry pollinators are absent. However, in such areas, it is important that special focus be given to selecting blueberry varieties that perform well with honey bees as their sole pollinator. Further research is necessary to determine how the pollination deficit of blueberry varieties can be decreased as well as how to increase the effectiveness of honey bee pollination.

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“…Research carried out in Burkina Faso, indicated that the negative consequence of any pollinator decline can cause an average yield gap of 37% for cotton production, and 59% in sesame production (Stein et al 2017). These yield gaps in pollination services can be calculated for each crop by comparing the fruit yields in the presence of different pollinator communities (Garibaldi et al 2016) or by comparisons between open natural pollination (mixed self-and cross-pollination), outcrossing hand pollination and pollinator exclusion (Hudewenz et al 2013;Martin et al 2021). Yield gaps effectively estimate the potential to improve crop yields by optimizing the pollination environment.…”

Section: Importance Of Pollination Services and Pollinator Conservatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Insect pollination and sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Kumsa

Ballantyne

2021

J Poll Ecol

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We are currently seeing an expansion of pollinator-dependent crops in many parts of the world, but also growing evidence for pollinator population declines and loss of pollinator habitat. Climate change and population growth will place additional demands on crop production, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite the wealth of evidence that improved management of insect pollinators can lead to substantial gains in crop yield, agricultural improvement strategies in SSA still emphasize the manipulation of abiotic factors and do not fully exploit the value of pollinators. In this article we review the importance of pollination services in sustainable agriculture, how global perspectives can inform our understanding of the situation in SSA, discuss successful pollination management, highlight where research and development are required, and suggest possible solutions to enhance the contribution of pollination services to sustainable agriculture in the region.

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Honey bees are important pollinators of South African blueberries despite their inability to sonicate

Abstract: Honey bees, Apis mellifera, are important pollinators of the highbush blueberry variety Ventura despite the inability to sonicate Honey bees are important pollinators of blueberries despite their inability to sonicate

Cited by 13 publications

References 32 publications

Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Buzz-Pollinated Crops: A Global Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Supplemental Bee Pollination in Tomato

Assessing the effectiveness of honey bee pollinators for cultivated blueberries in South Africa

Insect pollination and sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

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