Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
J Econ Entomol. 2010 Jun;103(3):557-62. doi: 10.1603/ec09387.
Weather plays an important role in spring-blooming fruit crops due to the combined effects on bee activity, flower opening, pollen germination, and fertilization. To determine the effects of weather on highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L., productivity, we monitored bee activity and compared fruit set, weight, and seed number in a field stocked with honey bees, Apis mellifera L., and common eastern bumble bees, Bombus impatiens (Cresson). Flowers were subjected to one of five treatments during bloom: enclosed, open, open during poor weather only, open during good weather only, or open during poor and good weather. Fewer bees of all types were observed foraging and fewer pollen foragers returned to colonies during poor weather than during good weather. There were also changes in foraging community composition: honey bees dominated during good weather, whereas bumble bees dominated during poor weather. Berries from flowers exposed only during poor weather had higher fruit set in 1 yr and higher berry weight in the other year compared with enclosed clusters. In both years, clusters exposed only during good weather had > 5 times as many mature seeds, weighed twice as much, and had double the fruit set of those not exposed. No significant increase over flowers exposed during good weather was observed when clusters were exposed during good and poor weather. Our results are discussed in terms of the role of weather during bloom on the contribution of bees adapted to foraging during cool conditions.
天气对春花作物有重要影响，因为它会综合影响蜜蜂活动、开花、花粉发芽和受精。为了确定天气对高丛越橘（ Vaccinium corymbosum L.）生产力的影响，我们监测了蜜蜂的活动，并比较了在一个有蜜蜂蜜蜂（ Apis mellifera L.）和常见的东方熊蜂（ Bombus impatiens （Cresson））的田野中，果实结实率、重量和种子数量。在开花期间，花朵接受了五种处理之一：封闭、开放、仅在恶劣天气下开放、仅在良好天气下开放或在恶劣和良好天气下开放。在恶劣天气下，观察到的所有类型的蜜蜂觅食者和返回蜂巢的花粉觅食者都较少。觅食者群落组成也发生了变化：在良好天气下，蜜蜂占主导地位，而在恶劣天气下，熊蜂占主导地位。与封闭的花簇相比，仅在恶劣天气下暴露的花朵结出的果实具有更高的结实率，在另一年的果实更大。在这两年中，仅在良好天气下暴露的花簇具有> 5 倍的成熟种子，重量是未暴露花簇的两倍，果实结实率是未暴露花簇的两倍。当花簇在良好和恶劣天气下暴露时，没有观察到比在良好天气下暴露时显著增加。我们的结果是根据开花期间天气对适应凉爽条件觅食的蜜蜂的贡献来讨论的。
