Location: Pollinator Health in Southern Crop Ecosystems Research
Project Number: 6066-30500-004-013-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 18, 2025
End Date: Sep 17, 2027
Objective:
(1) To conduct research on problems related to improving honey bee health, and natural habitat and minimizing risk of agroecological stressors to native bees and honey bees, in ways that are beneficial to beekeepers and agricultural producers in the Mississippi Delta.
(2) To conduct studies to understand how the agricultural landscape affects managed pollinators and build an extension program targeted at row crop producers to promote pollinator habitat and pollinator friendly agronomic practices.
Approach:
The Mississippi Delta region in the southern United States has traditionally been an area of intense row crop agriculture with high pest pressure that routinely needs synthetic pesticides to keep pest populations below economic injury levels. These areas are only now seeing the influx of commercial beekeepers that traditionally have been located in other areas of the U.S.
Therefore, there is a need to determine ways to increase the health of both managed honey bees as well as native bees. The crops grown in the region do not require pollination from bees, but the region is home to nectar producing plants and commercial beekeepers often bring colonies to the region at specific times of the year to support bee colony health. These colonies are needed for pollination services for farmers in other areas of the U.S. in the following season.
In addition, there is a lack of knowledge about the overall ecology of non-crop forage (i.e. weeds and native vegetation) to provide suitable foraging habitat for bees as well as determining the risk of certain pesticides on bee health. Finding answers on which strategies increase bee health while being feasible and economical both to the farmer and commercial beekeeper is of the highest priority.
Studies to be performed include (1) understanding the nutritional benefits of non-crop plants and design potential nutritional supplements to build honey bee colony strength, (2) identifying the impact of commonly used pesticides and their application procedures to devise procedures that will minimize exposure risks to pollinators, (3) developing strategies to conserve the abundance and richness of non-Apis bees, including bumble bees, alfalfa leafcutter bees, and blue orchard bees, essential for pollinating certain agricultural crops and plants in the natural habitats and (4) building a knowledge-base among farmers on the interactions between managed pollinators and agronomic crops, through an extension program targeting county extension agents, agricultural consultants, and farmers in Mississippi.
Furthermore, we will conduct assessments of insect pollinator and vegetative diversity and their associations with surrounding configuration, age, composition, and proximity of forest and non-forest habitat. We will also assess pollinator populations in existing right-of-way corridors to address questions of connectivity among key forest patches. We will use a combination of Malaise traps and pan-traps to target a comprehensive group of taxa in all objectives, with additional sweep-netting if the study design warrants. Specimens will be sorted and identified to minimally genus and/or taxa group (preferably species) under guidance of the Mississippi State University Entomological Museum and USDA staff.