Productive efficiency of the apicultural industry depends upon improvements in bee breed, bee management and bee forage. The behavioural traits such as pollen carrying capacity, pollen and honey stores and colony population were compared for black and yellow strains of Indian honey bee Apis. cerana indica F. Observations of honey bees showing maximum activity support the conjecture that pollen ...

Addition of floral resources to agricultural field margins has been shown to increase abundance of beneficial insects in crop fields, but most plants recommended for this use are non-native annuals. Native perennial plants with different bloom periods can provide floral resources for bees throughout the growing season for use in pollinator conservation projects. To identify the most suitable pl...

We compared pollen removal and deposition by hummingbirds and bumblebees visiting bird-syndrome Penstemon barbatus and bee-syndrome P. strictus flowers. One model for evolutionary shifts from bee pollination to bird pollination has assumed that, mostly due to grooming, pollen on bee bodies quickly becomes unavailable for transfer to stigmas, whereas pollen on hummingbirds has greater carryover....

Landscapes of farms and adjacent areas are known to influence abundance of various arthropods such as pollinators in commercial agricultural ecosystems. In this context, we examined the effect of heterogeneous landscapes surrounding and including commercial apple orchards on pollinator visitation and foraging distance during bloom period from 2011 to 2013 in Pennsylvania. Our results showed tha...

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IS A BALANCING ACT. ON ONE SIDE IS SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF food and biobased products for a growing population. On the other is protecting our natural resources and the environment. The global decline of the honey bee, a major domestic pollinator of many crops, exemplifi es how complex the factors are that contribute to maintaining this balance. Overall bee colony decl...

Managed and wild bee populations are declining around the world, in part due to lost access forage (i.e., nectar pollen). As diminishes, remaining acres become sites of contestation between beekeepers, land managers, ecologists, regulatory agencies. This article applies a commons framing contextualize these conflicts attempts resolve them. Drawing from concepts commoning, I argue that pollen co...

Sustainable agriculture relies on pollinators, and wild bees benefit yield of multiple crops. However, the combined exposure to pesticides loss flower resources, driven by agricultural intensification, contribute declining diversity abundance many bee taxa. Flower plantings along margins fields offer diverse food resources not directly treated with pesticides. To investigate potential mitigate ...

PREFERENCE OF HONEY BEES, CARPENTER BEES, AND BUMBLE BEES FOR NEW CROPS IN VIRGINIA. Mark Kraemer & Harbans Bhardwaj, Agricultural Research Station, Virginia State Univ., Petersburg, VA 23806. Agricultural crops may provide important nectar and pollen resources for native bees and the European honey bee, especially during the mid to late summer period when forage resources are limited. In some ...

PREFERENCE OF HONEY BEES, CARPENTER BEES, AND BUMBLE BEES FOR NEW CROPS IN VIRGINIA. Mark Kraemer & Harbans Bhardwaj, Agricultural Research Station, Virginia State Univ., Petersburg, VA 23806. Agricultural crops may provide important nectar and pollen resources for native bees and the European honey bee, especially during the mid to late summer period when forage resources are limited. In some ...