Identification of native pollinators for increasing berry production in northern climate

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Northern Lights Estate Winery (NLEW) is located in Prince George and it is British Columbia's most northern winery. NLEW produces a variety of fruit wines and blends using berries and fruits primarily produced on site and locally, including blueberry, strawberry, haskap, gooseberry, apple, cherry, raspberry, black currant, and rhubarb. NLEW has contacted the College of New Caledonia (CNC) for a new research collaboration to identify native pollinators existing in the two orchard site locations, their abundance and richness. Several research outcomes are expected from this study: (i) identify native pollinators associated with several early flowering crop species such as apple, haskap, black currant, saskatoon, and raspberry, (ii) imagery of pollinators' activity taken by time-lapse cameras, (iii) relationship between landing times on specific flowers and weather attributes, and (iv) recommendations on improving native pollinators' habitats.CNC students participating in the project will gain experiential learning experience in areas of (i) native pollinators for industrial food production, (ii) insect and plant ID, and (iii) high resolution imagery recording and data analysis.