NSERC - CANPOLIN (Canadian Pollination Initiative)

加拿大绝大多数野生植物是由动物授粉的，我们的许多农作物也是如此，特别是果园水果、油籽和三叶草等牧草物种。当这些野生和可管理的授粉者觅食花蜜和花粉时，植物可以将它们用作将花粉从一朵花运送到另一朵花的工具。在加拿大，我们的动物传粉者主要是昆虫(主要是蜜蜂，但也有苍蝇、蝴蝶和飞蛾)，还有一些蜂鸟。然而，现在人们认识到，由于传粉者数量的下降，依赖动物授粉的生态系统正在世界各地陷入困境。这种下降降低了植物产生果实和种子的能力，从而威胁到生态系统的完整性和农业生产力。然而，人们对动物传粉者在农业和野生生态系统中的多样性、丰富性和相对重要性知之甚少。我们的网络提出的研究自然生态系统以及农田和果园的新的、多维的方法将产生新的见解，并更好地理解加拿大植物和传粉者如何在物种之间以及在生态系统和景观的复杂水平上相互作用。该网络的一个轴心将集中于蜜蜂等受管传粉者的效率和健康。另一个将强调本地传粉者，目标是通过栖息地管理最大限度地提高它们在农业、林业和荒野中的效率。这项研究将包括对传粉者的协调调查，以及对加拿大整个生态区植物育种和交配系统的研究。第三个轴心涉及授粉的经济问题，特别是在粮食安全和气候变化方面。该网络的第四个较小的重点将集中在加拿大树木和草之间的风传粉，以测试通过风传播花粉的模型，并预测对林业工作者和过敏患者有用的预测。

The great majority of Canada's wild plant species are pollinated by animals, as are many of our crops, especially orchard fruit, oil seeds, and pasture species like clover. As these wild and managed pollinators forage for nectar and pollen, plants can use them as vehicles for the transportation of their pollen from flower to flower. In Canada, our animal pollinators are mainly insects (mostly bees, but also flies, butterflies, and moths) with a few species of hummingbirds also involved. It is now recognized, however, that ecosystems relying on animal pollination are in trouble all around the world because of declining pollinator numbers. This decline reduces the capacity of plants to produce fruits and seeds, and thus threatens ecosystem integrity as well as agricultural productivity. However, little is known about the diversity, abundance, and relative importance of animal pollinators in the functioning of our agricultural and wild ecosystems. The novel, multidimensional, approaches proposed by our Network to study both natural ecosystems and agricultural fields and orchards will generate new insights and much greater understanding of how Canadian plants and pollinators interact, between species and at the complex level of ecosystems and landscapes. One axis of the Network will concentrate on the efficiency and health of managed pollinators such as honeybees. Another will emphasize native pollinators, with the goal of maximizing their effectiveness in agriculture, forestry, and wildlands via habitat management. This research will include coordinated surveys of pollinators and studies on plant breeding and mating systems throughout Canada's ecoregions. A third axis concerns the economics of pollination, especially with regard to food security and climate change. A fourth, smaller emphasis of the Network will focus on pollination by wind among Canadian trees and grasses to test models of pollen dispersal by wind and forecasting useful to foresters and allergy sufferers.