Native Bee Habitat Rehabilitation; Encouraging Greater Adoption of Sustainable Pollination Practices- Part II

Native Bee Habitat Rehabilitation; Encouraging Greater Adoption of Sustainable Pollination Practices- Part II

Summary

• A third of the human diet relies directly or indirectly on biotic pollination. Pollinators contribute 9.5% to the global agricultural output, or about $153 billion. In the U.S., the value of pollination services has been estimated at $18.9 billion for honeybees and $3 billion for native bees. Without bees, the flowers of bee pollinated crops will abort or will set small, misshaped, flavorless and quickly perishable fruit. In addition, many wind pollinated crops have better yields when bees augment the pollination process. Currently, honeybees are decimated by a combination of pests, pathogens, and stresses as result of poor management and overexploitation. However, wild bees can successfully pollinate commercial crops by themselves if some farm land is managed as bee habitat with an abundance of floral and nesting resources. Wild bees not only provide free pollination but are active in inclement weather and are more effective in vectoring pollen between flowers than honeybees.

  This proposal seeks funding for the second phase in a three-year project and deals with managing and monitoring the research plots. Our overall goal with this project is to determine the costs and returns per square foot for native bee habitat rehabilitation for farms situated in the northeastern United States. With the knowledge of how to conserve and restore the native bee habitat and the costs needed to do so, farmers will be better equipped in avoiding the lack of or expensive pollination triggered by the ongoing honeybee crisis. Besides a ready supply of on-farm pollination services, by actively managing a population of plants rewarding to native pollinators throughout the year, growers will have a healthy and diverse population of pest predators, reduced farm soil erosion, irrigation water loss and fertilizer runoff, as well as more windbreaks, weed suppression, etc. Outcomes of this project will include recommendations for establishing native bee habitats including plant suppliers and a demonstration area to provide ongoing education to growers seeking to establish their own habitats.

Objectives/Performance Targets

A large number of organizations throughout North America are working on conserving and encouraging pollinators, with great emphasis on honeybees. Valuable research is being done on bee biology, habitat restoration, pollinator plants, plant pollinator interactions, bee diversity, bee pests and diseases, synergistic and sublethal pesticide effects on bees, etc. However, despite the significance of the subject matter and the information available, the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions have no programs investigating the costs and returns of rehabilitating native bee habitat on organic farms. Moreover, the farmers in these regions need to have demonstration farms that will be how-to guides for providing forage and nesting resources for the native bee population. These types of projects can incorporate all the available data and give a full perspective to the farmer on the work volume and investment level for accomplishing pollination sustainability.

This proposal represents the second phase in a three year project and it deals with managing and monitoring the research plots. Through the “Native Bee Habitat Rehabilitation” project, we will provide the growers of the northeastern U.S. with the applied knowledge of how to rehabilitate the native pollinator habitat. The desired outcome of this research project is to assess the investment needed for having a strong and diverse population of native bees able to fully pollinate the predominant crops. For better understanding the environmental impact of our project, the bee population progress will be monitored bi-weekly. For that, we will use aerial netting and pan trapping methods. Furthermore, the native bee census will be incorporated into a regional bee database, which will shed more light on the current nation-wide native pollinator crises.

In 2009, we installed native bee linear habitat on two farms, Dickinson College Farm and Penn State Southeast Agriculture Research and Extension Center. Although the later site was not specified in the 2009 NESARE contract, this was possible due to some significant educational discounts on plant materials and some in-house funds. In 2010, we are interested in maintaining the research plots and continuing to monitor the general trend in the diversity and abundance of the bee populations. Such work will encourage growers to more confidently adopt these conservation practices in order to secure and increase their native bee population. This will translate into sustainable pollination and more qualitative and quantitative yields, which will allow the farmers to increase their profits.

To ascertain the costs per square foot of bee habitat rehabilitation, we will be factoring in the time and funds invested in the initial site survey, planting design and installation, and yearly maintenance. The returns will be determined by the rate of which the native bees are participating in the crop pollination process before and after the habitat has reached its full potential. For this we will trap and identify all the bees, native or non native, present on a randomly selected number of crop flowers, in a given time period. Without taking into consideration the value of the environmental services, we will consider that the pollinator value is directly proportional with the value of the crop pollinated. Therefore, the returns’ estimated minimum value will be equal with the value of crop yields the native bees actively pollinated.

Accomplishments/Milestones

In 2010, both plots–Dickinson College Farm & SEAREC Farm, were maintained weed free on a as-needed basis. The bee population was monitored on both sites every two weeks. Based on the lessons learned in 2009, in 2010 we employed a modified pan traps bee monitoring method. The common pan traps method for monitoring bees relies on placing brightly colored, white, yellow, and blue plastic bowls filled with soapy water on the ground from 7:00 am till 5:00 pm every two weeks. Because the bowls (pans) are so light-weighted gusts of wind can turn them upside down rendering them inoperable. Moreover, because most of these bowls are placed in relatively high vegetation, farm vehicles, people or animals can run/step over them and brake them apart. In order to avoid this challenge we had in 2009, in 2010 we developed height-adjustable, clearly visible stands for the pan traps. These stands have proven 100% reliable, with virtually no bee specimen losses due to wind gusts or run over accidents. We plan on using the same monitoring technique in the upcoming years on both farms.

Several hundred bee specimens have been collected in 2010; they will be identified in the next couple of months.

• Height-adjustable bee bowl traps 1
• Height-adjustable bee bowl traps 3
• Height-adjustable bee bowl traps 4
• Height-adjustable bee bowl traps
• Height-adjustable bee bowl traps 2

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Both bee habitat plots were opened for farmers, green industry personnel, and other interested parties at field days and other educational programs.

1) Vegetable Growers (PASA) Field Day, Penn State Southeast Research and Education Center, Mannheim, PA – 72 attendees.

2) Legislature Day, Penn State Southeast Research and Education Center, Mannheim, PA — 50 attendees.

3) Summer Garden Experience, Penn State Southeast Research and Education Center, Mannheim, PA — 50 attendees.

4) PASA Field Day, Dickinson College Farm, Boiling Springs, PA – 25 attendees.

In addition, talks and presentations related to the project have been made at the following meetings:

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Maryland Cooperative Extension

in Washington County. Boonsboro. Maryland. August 23, 2010. 33 attendees.

“Understanding Pesticide Impacts on Pollinators”. Understanding Pollinators. Maryland
Cooperative Extension in Washington County. Boonsboro. Maryland. August 23, 2010. 33
attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Penn State Cooperative Extension
in Westmoreland County. Greensburg. Pennsylvania. August 13, 2010. 42 attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Penn State Cooperative Extension
in Venango County. Franklin. Pennsylvania. August 12, 2010. 25 attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Penn State Cooperative Extension
in Clinton County. Mill Hall. Pennsylvania. August 11, 2010. 35 attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Penn State Cooperative Extension
in Lackawanna County. Scranton. Pennsylvania. August 10, 2010. 37 attendees.

“Meet the Pollinators”. Summer Garden Experience. Penn State Southeast Agriculture Research
and Extension Center. Manheim. Pennsylvania. July 31, 2010. 75 attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Maryland Cooperative Extension
in Queen Anne’s County. Centreville. Maryland. July 20, 2010. 31 attendees.

“Understanding Pesticide Impacts on Pollinators”. Understanding Pollinators. Maryland
Cooperative Extension in Queen Anne’s County. Centreville. Maryland. July 20, 2010. 31
attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Maryland Cooperative Extension
in Baltimore County. Cockeysville. Maryland. July19, 2010. 40 attendees.

“Overview of Pollinator Research Projects”. Discovery Day. Penn State Southeast Agriculture
Research and Extension Center. Manheim. Pennsylvania. July 14, 2010. 50 attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Penn State Cooperative Extension
in Cumberland County. Carlisle. Pennsylvania. June13, 2010. 22 attendees.

“Pollinators’ Habits and Habitats”. Understanding Pollinators. Penn State Cooperative Extension
in Berks County. Leesport. Pennsylvania. June12, 2010. 31 attendees.

“About Bees”. Bob Carey’s Garden Talk. Guest Radio Show. Country Gold Radio / WIOO. Carlisle.
Pennsylvania. April 25, 2010.

“Understanding Pumpkin Pollinators”. Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention. Hershey
Lodge, Hershey, Pennsylvania. February 4, 2010. 80 attendees.

“Pumpkin Pollinators”. New Holland Vegetable Day. Yoder’s Restaurant, New Holland,
Pennsylvania. January 18, 2010. 35 attendees.

“Native Pollinators”. Backyard Fruit Growers Annual Meeting. Penn State Cooperative Extension
in Lancaster County, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. January 16, 2010. 80 attendees.

“Gardening for Pollinators”. Professional Landscape Designing Series (for Pennsylvania Certified
Horticulturists). Penn State Cooperative Extension in York County, York, Pennsylvania. January 12, 2010. 25 attendees.

Collaborators: