NSERC - CANPOLIN (Canadian Pollination Initiative)

加拿大绝大多数野生植物物种都是由动物授粉的，我们的许多作物也是如此，特别是果园水果，油料种子和牧场物种，如三叶草。当这些野生和管理的传粉者觅食花蜜和花粉时，植物可以利用它们作为将花粉从一朵花运输到另一朵花的载体。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，由于传粉者数量的减少，依赖动物授粉的生态系统在世界各地都遇到了麻烦。这种下降降低了植物生产果实和种子的能力，从而威胁到生态系统的完整性以及农业生产力。然而，很少有人知道的多样性，丰富性和相对重要性的动物传粉者在我们的农业和野生生态系统的功能。我们的网络提出的研究自然生态系统和农田和果园的新颖，多维的方法将产生新的见解，并更好地了解加拿大植物和传粉者如何在物种之间以及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理的授粉者的效率和健康。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其在农业，林业和荒地中的效率。这项研究将包括协调调查传粉者和研究植物育种和交配系统在整个加拿大的生态区。第三个轴心涉及授粉的经济学，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授粉，以测试风传播花粉的模型，并对林业工作者和过敏症患者进行预测。

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.