Location: Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research
Project Number: 2080-21000-017-002-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 1, 2014
End Date: Jul 31, 2019
Objective:
The health, sustainability, and conservation of non-Apis bee can be impacted by climate and climate change, land management practices, agricultural practices, pesticide use, and commercial management systems. Objectives for addressing impacting factors may include: 1) systematically testing for impacts of landscape, management practices, weather, disease, natural enemies, and pesticide use on pollinator abundance and sustainability, 2) developing improved methods for pollinating bee availability (both managed and unmanaged bees), 3) collecting baseline data needed for conservation efforts of bee species, and 4) using high capacity computer technology to organize and analyze data for understanding driving forces behind pollinator health and survival concerns and predicting future outcomes due to such forces mentioned above.
Approach:
Objectives will be met for each objective, respectively, by: 1) manipulation of management practices, replicated by field sites or field cages, that influence exposure to biotic conditions, natural enemies, disease, and pesticides, or experiments that are replicated within and between ecological landscapes for influence of landscape dynamics with agricultural practices/needs; companion studies in laboratory settings under controlled conditions may also be performed; 2) observation of treatment effects (such as floral resources, natural enemy control, and pesticide use) on pollination efficacy and pollinator presence as well as agro-ecological impacts on other beneficial or pestiferous arthropods; 3) conducting surveys or searches within museums and databases for agriculturally important bee species to determine bees under threat of decline or to determine what landscapes are important for bee conservation and if they are threatened; and 4) implementing the tools available for exploring large datasets that can show temporal and/or spatial impacts of landscape, weather, management practices, and within-farm design on pollinator abundance, sustainability, or efficacy.
