Development of the Mason Bee, Osmia cornifrons, as an Alternative Pollinator to Honey Bees and as a Targeted Delivery System for Biocontrol Agents in the Management of Fire Blight

Pollination is a pivotal, keystone process in almost all terrestrial ecosystem food webs: it supports global and sustainable productivity in agriculture and forestry, and maintains the biodiversity of plant and animal life. Bees are the most important pollinators, but bee declines in abundance and species richness have been documented on 4 continents. This decline in pollinator abundance is accompanied by our lack of knowledge regarding the current contributions of native bees to crop pollination. This lack of understanding of the role of native bees in agriculture makes it difficult to make a case for native pollinator conservation to funding agencies looking for an economic benefit other than biodiversity conservation. Almost 100 crop species in the US rely to some extent on honey bee pollination and the value of honey bees to U.S. agriculture is estimated to be $15 billion annually ($1.4 billion for apple). Collectively these 100 crops make up about 1/3 of the US diet and consist mainly of high-value specialty crops (i.e. fruit, vegetable and nut crops) that provide the bulk of vitamins and other nutrients that contribute to healthy diets.