Ground-nesting bee conservation in lowbush blueberry agroecosystems

据保守估计，蜜蜂为加拿大粮食作物提供授粉服务的经济价值每年为12亿美元，野生物种对某些关键作物的贡献也日益得到承认。这些野生蜜蜂大多在地面筑巢，关于它们的种群动态、生活史和筑巢栖息地的信息仍然很少。许多小型水果品种，如低丛蓝莓（Vaccinium angustifolium），在加拿大是经济上重要的作物，严重依赖昆虫来获得足够的产量。低丛蓝莓由不同的野生蜜蜂群落授粉，包括在酸性土壤中筑巢的专业蜜蜂，它们几乎完全以单一植物属或一小群植物物种为食。然而，这些蜜蜂群落和特殊物种受到土地利用变化和农药使用增加的威胁。本研究项目的总体目标是更好地了解农业生态系统中地面筑巢蜜蜂的种群动态，以加强蜜蜂保护和授粉服务。由于它拥有多样化的蜜蜂群落，并且严重依赖昆虫介导的授粉，我们使用低丛蓝莓农业生态系统作为模型作物系统。在我们对地面筑巢蜜蜂的了解中，一个重要的空白是我们对雌蜂为什么以及如何决定在一个给定的地点筑巢的理解。本研究的具体目标是：1)研究地面筑巢蜜蜂的种群动态和筑巢习性；2)确定土壤中农药对地面筑巢蜜蜂的影响，特别是在魁北克Lac-St-Jean地区与蓝莓蛆和斑点翅果蝇的斗争中；3)测试各种栖息地增强策略，以增加地面筑巢蜜蜂的数量。对于这些具体目标中的每一个，将特别关注蓝莓专家安德烈娜·卡罗莱纳。科学方法将包括使用紧急陷阱和现场分析的现场操作。了解使一个地点适合或不适合筑巢的特征具有重要的管理意义，例如加强农场实践或景观，以有利于在地面筑巢的蜜蜂。我们的目的是为农业生态系统中整个地面筑巢蜜蜂群落的筑巢地点选择提供急需的定量和比较分析。这将使我们能够为种植者提供新的工具和政策，以增强他们的农场野生蜜蜂群落，从而增加野生蜜蜂的生物多样性，确保授粉服务的自主性，减少对租用蜂箱的依赖。

The economic value of pollination services provided by bees for Canadian food crops has been conservatively estimated at $1.2 billion annually, and the contributions of wild species to certain key crops are increasingly recognized. Most of these wild bees are ground nesters, and information on their population dynamics, life histories, and nesting habitats remains sparse. Many small fruit species, such as lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), are economically significant crops in Canada and heavily depend on insects for achieving adequate yields. Lowbush blueberry is pollinated by diverse communities of wild bees, including specialist bees that nest in acidic soil and forage almost entirely on a single plant genus or a small group of plant species. However, these bee communities and specialist species are threatened by land-use change and increasing applications of pesticides. The overall objective of this research program is to better understand the population dynamics of ground-nesting bees in agroecosystems to enhance bee conservation and pollination services. As it harbors diverse bee communities and heavily relies on insect mediated pollination, we use the lowbush blueberry agroecosystem as a model crop system. One important gap in our knowledge of ground-nesting bees is an understanding of why and how female bees decide to establish their nest in a given location. Specific objectives of this research are: 1) to examine the population dynamics and nesting habits of ground-nesting bees; 2) to determine the impact of pesticides in soil on ground-nesting bees, particularly in the context of combatting the blueberry maggot and spotted wing drosophila in Quebec's Lac-St-Jean region; and 3) to test various habitat enhancement strategies in order to increase the abundance of ground-nesting bees. For each of these specific objectives, particular attention will be paid to the blueberry specialist Andrena carolina. Scientific approaches will consist of in-field manipulations using emergence traps and in-situ assays. Understanding the characteristics that make a location suitable or not for nesting has important management implications, such as enhancing farm practices or landscape to favour ground-nesting bees. We aim to provide a much-needed quantitative and comparative analysis of nesting site selection for a whole community of ground-nesting bees in an agroecosystem. This will enable us to provide growers with new tools and policies to enhance their on-farm wild bee communities, thus increasing wild bee biodiversity, ensuring pollination services autonomy and reducing dependence on rented honey bee hives.