Thursday, August 9, 2007 - 8:40 AM

COS 99-3: Wild pollinator conservation: Opportunities and challenges in mid-Atlantic sustainable agriculture

Annette M. Meredith, University of Maryland

Recommendations from the recent National Academy of Sciences report, Status of Pollinators in North America, include informing the agricultural community about ways to manage pollinators and conducting studies to improve restoration protocols and to understand land manager’s willingness to adopt pollinator-friendly practices.  Interdisciplinary in nature, the research follows NAS’ recommendations and incorporates methods from anthropology, ecology, and environmental science to investigate and critically evaluate the opportunities and challenges to pollinator conservation in Mid-Atlantic sustainable agriculture.  Based on wild bee censuses on sustainable agriculture farms, floral and nesting preference studies, and informal interviews with farmers, I developed surveys to examine the relationships among pollinator advocates’ and farmers’ perceptions of benefit to the farm and surrounding lands from practices that promote pollinators and to investigate each practice’s respective likelihood of adoption.  Presumably sustainable agriculture farmers already hold beliefs, values and knowledge about ecosystem services conservation; therefore to formulate effective outreach, there is a need to understand how these beliefs differ or align with those of pollinator advocates.  Informal interviews and survey responses indicate interest in pollination services but less knowledge about how to implement pollinator-friendly practices.  Data I collected on wild bee use of floral and nesting resources in conjunction with information gathered from the surveys can be incorporated into existing conservation practices that enhance other environmental services already funded and implemented through incentive-based programs.  Information obtained also contributes to understanding which members of the sustainable agricultural community are more likely to participate in efforts aimed at pollinator recovery.