The foraging behaviour of honey bees (Apis mellifera L) and bumble bees (Bombus spp) on cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait)

MacKenzie, K.

doi:10.1051/apido:19940404

Cited by 39 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Although the activity of natural pollinators was not limiting fruit production during our study, this may vary among years and populations (Ehrlén, 1992). This study, along with others showing the superior effectiveness of native pollinators over honeybees at cranberry pollination (Kevan et al, 1983;MacKenzie, 1994), suggests that if the habitat surrounding the cranberry bogs is managed to sustain populations of natural insect pollinators, farmers may not need to rent hives every year. Adequate native insect biodiversity around cranberry farms could provide sufficient pollination and control of pests through predation or parasitism (Landis et al, 2000;Kremen et al, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Fruit production in cranberry (Ericaceae: Vaccinium macrocarpon): a bet‐hedging strategy to optimize reproductive effort

Brown

McNeil

2006

American J of Botany

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In the cultivated cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), reproductive stems produce 1-3 fruit even though they usually have 5-7 flowers in the spring. We undertook experiments to test the hypothesis that this was an adaptive life history strategy associated with reproductive effort rather than simply the result of insufficient pollination. We compared fruit production on naturally pollinated plants with those that were either manually pollinated or that were caged to exclude insects. Clearly, insects are necessary for the effective pollination of cranberry plants, but hand pollination of all flowers did not result in an increase in fruit number. Most of the upper flowers, which had significantly fewer ovules than did the lower flowers, aborted naturally soon after pollination. However, when the lower flower buds were removed, the upper flowers produced fruit. This suggests that the upper flowers may serve as a backup if the earlier blooming lower ones are lost early in the season. Furthermore, the late-blooming flowers may still contribute to the plant's reproductive success as visiting pollinators remove the pollen, which could serve to sire fruit on other plants. These results are discussed in the context of their possible evolutionary and proximate causes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Fruit production in cranberry (Ericaceae: Vaccinium macrocarpon): a bet‐hedging strategy to optimize reproductive effort

Brown

McNeil

2006

American J of Botany

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“…In apple sites, the majority of pollen in every colony came from apple flowers, suggesting that it may be favored by honey bees because it is nutritious (also see Laverty & Hiemstra, 1998), or as is detailed below, easy for them to collect. In contrast, only one honey bee colony collected blueberry pollen, and then, it made up only ~ 1% of all pollen (also see Dogterom & Winston, 1999;Javorek, MacKenzie, & Vander Kloet, 2002;MacKenzie, 1994). Similarly, proportions of pollen from cranberry were quite low compared to proportions from apple flowers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honey bee‐collected pollen in agro‐ecosystems reveals diet diversity, diet quality, and pesticide exposure

Colwell

Williams

Evans

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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European honey bees Apis mellifera are important commercial pollinators that have suffered greater than normal overwintering losses since 2007 in North America and Europe. Contributing factors likely include a combination of parasites, pesticides, and poor nutrition. We examined diet diversity, diet nutritional quality, and pesticides in honey bee‐collected pollen from commercial colonies in the Canadian Maritime Provinces in spring and summer 2011. We sampled pollen collected by honey bees at colonies in four site types: apple orchards, blueberry fields, cranberry bogs, and fallow fields. Proportion of honey bee‐collected pollen from crop versus noncrop flowers was high in apple, very low in blueberry, and low in cranberry sites. Pollen nutritional value tended to be relatively good from apple and cranberry sites and poor from blueberry and fallow sites. Floral surveys ranked, from highest to lowest in diversity, fallow, cranberry, apple, and blueberry sites. Pesticide diversity in honey bee‐collected pollen was high from apple and blueberry sites and low from cranberry and fallow sites. Four different neonicotinoid pesticides were detected, but neither these nor any other pesticides were at or above LD50 levels. Pollen hazard quotients were highest in apple and blueberry sites and lowest in fallow sites. Pollen hazard quotients were also negatively correlated with the number of flower taxa detected in surveys. Results reveal differences among site types in diet diversity, diet quality, and pesticide exposure that are informative for improving honey bee and land agro‐ecosystem management.

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“…Other parameters related to foraging activity and the visiting of plants include, the number of foragers per flower (Sushil et al 2013); the number of visited flowers per forager (Mattu et al 2012); and time spent per flower (Sushil et al 2013); nectar and pollen collection method from the blooms (Mackenzie 1994); the position of the forager bees on or at the side of the flower (Mayer and Lunden 1988;Mattu et al 2012); the position of visited branches and flowers (Mattu et al 2012); the proportion of pollen or nectar foragers relative to total foragers; foraging type; the load of pollen and pollen type; concentration of crop nectar sucrose (Pearce et al 2013); and competition with other pollinators (Mackenzie 1994;Brittain et al 2013).…”

Section: Monitoring Of Foraging Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This virus has the ability to remain infectious within honey bee colonies for at least 10 days. Honey bees are not effective pollinators of some plants; for example, Mackenzie (1994) found that bumble bees were better than honey bees in cranberry pollination (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait). Bee-to-bee contact can also result in the transmission of bee parasites from one forager to another.…”

Section: Disadvantages Of Foraging Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The foraging behaviour of honey bees, Apis mellifera: a review

Abou‐Shaara¹

2014

Vet. Med.

169

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Foraging behaviour is one of the distinctive behaviours of honey bees, Apis mellifera. This behaviour is the link between the honey bee colony and the ambient environment. Therefore, various in-colony and out-colony factors have an impact on this behaviour, and many studies have been employed to investigate these factors. Foraging behaviour is not advantageous only for the colony and for plant pollination but also has other benefits. In contrast, some disadvantages have also been discovered to be linked with foraging activity. Practically speaking, the control over this behaviour is very important to maximize colony products as well as to increase other agricultural benefits. This paper presents a review on foraging activity including; the regulation of foraging tasks, factors impacting this behaviour, foraging preference, variations between subspecies, monitoring methods as well as the possible methods for controlling this behaviour. As concluded from this review, more work needs to be performed in order to elucidate certain aspects of foraging behaviour.

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The foraging behaviour of honey bees (Apis mellifera L) and bumble bees (Bombus spp) on cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait)

Cited by 39 publications

References 5 publications

Fruit production in cranberry (Ericaceae: Vaccinium macrocarpon): a bet‐hedging strategy to optimize reproductive effort

Fruit production in cranberry (Ericaceae: Vaccinium macrocarpon): a bet‐hedging strategy to optimize reproductive effort

Honey bee‐collected pollen in agro‐ecosystems reveals diet diversity, diet quality, and pesticide exposure

The foraging behaviour of honey bees, Apis mellifera: a review

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