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Full-Text Articles in Agriculture
Landscape Pattern And Wild Bee Communities In Maine, Brianne Du Clos
Landscape Pattern And Wild Bee Communities In Maine, Brianne Du Clos
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Commercial production of lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton) in Maine relies primarily on managed honeybee hives; however, naturally occurring wild bees are more efficient pollinators of the crop. Wild bees have short foraging distances and must nest near crop fields to provide pollination services. After crop bloom, the surrounding landscape must provide sufficient forage to maintain wild bee populations for the remainder of the growing season. Lowbush blueberries in Maine are produced in a mixed-use landscape with two distinct landscape contexts. Here, we document bee communities and habitat resources (nesting and floral) in power line rights-of-way and eight land …
Sunflower Pollinators In South Dakota: An Evaluation Of Species Composition, Abundance And Influence On Yield, Mackenzie Mattern
Sunflower Pollinators In South Dakota: An Evaluation Of Species Composition, Abundance And Influence On Yield, Mackenzie Mattern
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In 2017 and 2018, South Dakota was the largest producer of sunflowers, Helianthus annuus L. (Asterales: Asteraceae) in the US, grossing approximately $178 million per year. In South Dakota, both confection and oilseed sunflower cultivars are grown. Despite breeding efforts to increase sunflower's ability to self-pollinate there is evidence that pollinator visitation results in increased sunflower yields. In addition, there is evidence that sunflower pollen is beneficial for pathogen resistance in various bee species, suggesting the importance of a mutualistic relationship between pollinators and sunflowers. In some areas, observed increases in sunflower yield is attributed to the presence of Apis …