EAGER: Re-thinking crop pollination by bees: How the interplay of agricultural and natural landscapes influences pollination by native bees in Southern California

传粉者的广泛减少是一个主要关切，因为它们可能对农作物和自然区植物的繁殖产生影响。如果不授粉，许多植物物种将面临灭绝的危险。传粉者在以农业为主的地区尤其受到威胁。尽管如此，一些本地种类的蜜蜂能够生活在这些景观中，并可能为各种各样的花朵授粉。也许他们可以弥补非本土蜜蜂授粉服务的减少，因为非本土蜜蜂的数量正在减少。这个迫切的项目将调查南加州农业景观中的本地蜜蜂群落。研究人员将对以蓝莓和西红柿为主的地区进行普查。主要目标是确定最能预测哪些传粉者出现在不同地区的环境因素，以及哪些形态特征最能预测它们的授粉效果。这些信息将对保护和管理本地蜜蜂种群有价值，以确保它们提供的授粉服务将为最多的开花植物提供。本项目将提供有关授粉的基本信息，授粉是大多数农作物中至关重要的过程。首席研究员在一个为期四年的拉美裔服务机构工作，来自传统上在科学领域代表性较低的群体的本科生将参与数据收集，并在实地研究中得到指导，从而提高他们的教育和就业前景。

Widespread declines of pollinators are a major concern because of their potential effects on agricultural crops and on reproduction of plants in natural areas. Without pollination many species of plants will be in danger of extinction. Pollinators are especially threatened in landscapes dominated by agriculture. Nonetheless, some native species of bees are able to live in these landscapes and are likely to pollinate a large diversity of flowers. Perhaps they can compensate for the reduction of pollination services provided by non-native honey bees, whose populations are crashing. This EAGER project will survey native bee communities in agricultural landscapes of southern California. Researchers will census areas dominated by blueberry and tomato crops. The primary goal is to determine the environmental factors that best predict which pollinators occur in different areas and which morphological traits best predict their pollination effectiveness. This information will be valuable for conserving and managing populations of native bees to ensure that the pollination services they provide will be available for the greatest number of flowering plants.This project will provide basic information about pollination, a critically important process in most agricultural crops. The lead investigator is at a four-year Hispanic Serving Institution and undergraduate students from groups traditionally underrepresented in science will be involved in data collection and mentored in field research, enhancing their educational and employment prospects.