Agricultural pollination research at a land grant university: Opportunities to communicate ecological concepts to lay audiences

Background/Question/Methods

Agricultural landscapes are considered to be hostile environments for wildlife, however wild bees can flourish in these habitats and contribute $3.1 billion of pollination services annually to the US economy. In 2003, we initiated a research program supported in part by commodity groups, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, and the United States Department of Agriculture, to address the needs of growers with respect to crop pollination. In doing so, we discovered more than 170 species of wild bees living in highbush blueberry agroecosystems, with an average of about 60 species that appear during blueberry bloom each year. Almost a third of these species are known to visit blueberry flowers and contribute to their pollination. We also compared native flowering plants for their attraction to bees, creating a list of attractive plants with varying phenologies that can be used to create pollinator conservation plantings.
Results/Conclusions

Part of the mission of a land grant university is to disseminate research results to lay audiences. We have found that growers, resource managers, gardeners, and native plant enthusiasts are very interested in our results and many are eager to implement conservation practices to support these insects. We have created two popular extension bulletins, a project website, and have presented our results directly in a series of speaking engagements to farmers and the general public. Our work has led to collaborations with the Michigan NRCS and Xerces Society where we plan to create demonstration plots of native habitat for bees. Here we will report on these various outreach efforts, and on farmer’s growing awareness of “other” bees that contribute pollination services on their farms.