5. Outline
• What is habitat management?
• How does it work?
• What are some benefits of habitat management?
• Native pollinators in Atlantic Canada
• Natural enemies
• Biology
• Their needs
• How do we start thinking like them?
16. What are natural
enemies?
• beneficial insects,
parasitoids, predators
• Involved in pest control
• E.g. beetles, wasps
• Similar needs as pollinators
17. Why are natural enemies
important?
• Biological control
• Dual purpose- pollination
• Nature takes care of itself
Image from
atlanticpestsolutions.net
Image from ipm.iastate.edu
19. Solitary vs Social Bees
• Most bees are solitary
• Cavity nesting, ground nesting
• Some are social
- Honey bees ! hives
- Bumble bees ! rodent holes
20. Nesting
• Trees, stems, reeds,
under rocks, in old
cars, in roof eaves,
milk cartons
• Proximity of water
• Parasites- nesting
aggregation
• Soil tillage
23. How can we manage
nesting?
• Tubes for cavity-nesters
• Soil conditions for
ground-nesters
24. How can we manage food?
• Floral plantings along field edge
• Marginal land, ditches, etc have also been used
• Provides habitat in addition to food at valuable
times
25. • Annual and perennial wildflowers
• Growing interest in “native flowers”
• Important to have diversity of flowers- tongue
length, nectar rewards
26. • Important to note that bees and other pollinators need
food throughout the season- before and after crop
bloom
28. Foraging Range
• Depends on body size,
species
• Affects foraging & access to
flowers
• Ranges from ~100 m to 5 km
29. Emergence, Phenology
• Spring vs later in the season
• Varying adult life spans- weeks to months to years
• What happens if required flowers aren’t blooming at
the right time? Climate change? Evolution? Tongue
length example
41. • Many crops require pollinators for fruit set
• Pollinator services from managed bees = high input
costs
• Native pollinators are efficient, effective and already
present (Javorek et al. 2002)
Background
42. • Native pollinators provide
important ‘free’ services
• Populations could be
increased to become more
economically important
43. Lowbush Blueberry
• Requires cross pollination
• Pollination services can be #1 cost (honey bees, other
managed bees)
• Unique cropping system (crop vs sprout)
• Opportunity to enhance agroecosystem for pollinators
44.
45. • Techniques to boost native
pollinators & natural enemies
• Focused on habitat and food
Objectives
52. Challenges
• Producer inputs
!tillage, seed, management (no spray), need to plant
each year, perhaps 2x per season
• Drought
• Deer
• Economic benefits?
• Conservation benefits?
59. • Trap nests for Osmia species (Hymenoptera:
Megachilidae)
• Cavity-nesting bee, readily accepts artificial nests
• Known to be good pollinators
Habitat Management for Mason Bees
60. • Solitary
• 8-9 species involved in blueberry (Stubbs et al. 1997)
• Queen lays eggs on pollen provision, larva ! pupa !
emerges the next year (Torchio 1989; Bosch et al. 2001)
• Linear sequence of ‘cells’
Osmia Biology
61. • Adult life span! 3- 5 weeks
• Can fly @ low temps and emerge early in season
• Need mud to ‘cap’ their nests, so water source important
Osmia Biology
www.bugguide.net
62. • What species are involved?
• Does nesting uptake differ from crop field
to sprout field?
• When does nesting occur?
• Are nests parasitized?
Questions
63. • 80 trap nests in 4 fields (64 wooden, 16
milk cartons)
• Placed 10 m apart along field edge
and facing the sun, supported on
stakes
• Set out 22 April in crop fields in
northeastern Nova Scotia
Materials & Methods- 2014
64. Wooden Trap Nests
• Examined different hole
diameters, rain cover,
burning
• Tubes were 10 cm deep
65. • 12 tubes/ 2L carton
• Tubes = 15 cm long
• Varying diameters (7 and 9 mm)
• Tubes from rolled white paper + newspaper and placed
through high-density polystyrene foam; spray foam
insulation to support tubes (Sheffield et al. 2007)
• Cartons painted white
Milk Cartons
67. • Focused on milk cartons only
• Compared crop and sprout
Materials & Methods-
2015
68. • Modified design
• 16 tubes instead of 12
• All the same diameter (7 mm)
• Added plastic straws
Milk Cartons- 2015
69. • 26/32 milk cartons had capped nests (81%)
• 4 milk cartons were removed due to bear
damage
Results & Discussion-
2015
70. Question: Crop vs Sprout
• No significant difference
• Trade offs for nearby
crop/sprout rotations
(bees & pests)
71. Question: Timing
Phenology of Osmia Nesting in 2015
Total#CappedNests
0
35
70
105
140
Date
12-Jun 26-Jun 1-Jul 10-Jul 17-Jul 22-Jul 31-Jul
• Blueberry Bloom
72. Question: Timing
• Capped nests appeared
after blueberry bloom had
finished
• Not all tubes were capped
at the ends
• Queens likely nested in
more than one tube
73. • TBD, as well as species
of Osmia
Question: Parasitism
74. • Why are milk cartons attractive?
-Longer tubes
-Smell?
-Pink Styrofoam? White carton?
• Landscape factors- water sources, previous populations,
food throughout season
Discussion 2015
75. Implications for Industry &
Science
• Better understanding of Osmia nesting
biology & involvement in wild blueberry
• Nests could be moved to crop fields
requiring pollinators
• Practical, inexpensive technique
76. Implications for Industry
& Science
• More efficient pollination
• Biodiversity conservation
• Alternative & complement to managed bees
78. Global Importance
• $ for farmers in Europe who implement
bee-friendly practices
• Marketing strategy for US farms “bee
friendly farms”
• “bee friendly” product labeling
79. Community Engagement
• Fact sheets for blueberry production
• OP seed mix fact sheet
• 4H pollinator project development
• Grower field days
• Industry meetings
• Schools
• Garden Clubs
80. Agvocate Challenge
• We need more positive ag stories!
• First blossom, bees, tractors, people
• Use opportunity to share
81.
82. Resources
• Lawrence Packer Lab, York
University
• Sheila Colla- online resources
• Nova Scotia Dept of Ag handout
re: bees
• Discover Life
• Bug Guide
