Rogers Shelley R, Tarpy David R, Burrack Hannah J
Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7634, USA.
Environ Entomol. 2013 Dec;42(6):1201-9. doi: 10.1603/EN12303. Epub 2013 Nov 25.
Numerous bee species provide pollination services in agricultural ecosystems. Evaluating a pollinator's performance with regard to a crop is an important step in attributing pollination services and predicting how changes in a bee community or foraging environment will affect those services. We used multiple criteria to evaluate pollinators of North Carolina highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L., agroecosystems. For five groups of bees (Apis mellifera L., Bombus spp., Habropoda laboriosa F., small native bees, and Xylocopa virginica L.), we measured forager abundance through transect observations, quantified per-visit efficiency as viable seed set resulting from a single visit, and analyzed bee presence in different weather conditions. We also considered two other criteria affecting pollinator performance-visitation rate and interspecific influence. A. mellifera was the most abundant bee in the majority of our survey sites, yet had low per-visit efficiency and reduced foraging activity in inclement weather. Small native bees were highly efficient pollinators. Their visits resulted in nearly twice as many seeds as A. mellifera or H. laboriosa. Bombus spp., H. laboriosa, and small native bees were more resilient to fluctuations in temperature, wind speed, and solar radiation than A. mellifera. Although nectar-robbing X. virginica contributed to little pollination through direct flower visits, their presence within the crop impacts the behavior and performance of other individuals. Underscoring the importance of evaluating pollinator performance via multiple criteria, our results show that bee groups contribute to pollination in different ways. These differences may provide functional complementarity and stability of pollination services to agricultural systems.
众多蜜蜂物种在农业生态系统中提供授粉服务。评估传粉者对某一作物的表现是确定授粉服务以及预测蜜蜂群落或觅食环境变化将如何影响这些服务的重要一步。我们使用多种标准来评估北卡罗来纳州高丛蓝莓（Vaccinium corymbosum L.）农业生态系统的传粉者。对于五组蜜蜂（意大利蜜蜂Apis mellifera L.、熊蜂属Bombus spp.、华丽无垫蜂Habropoda laboriosa F.、小型本地蜜蜂和北美木蜂Xylocopa virginica L.），我们通过样带观察测量觅食者数量，将单次访问产生的可行种子结实率量化为每次访问的效率，并分析不同天气条件下蜜蜂的出现情况。我们还考虑了影响传粉者表现的另外两个标准——访问率和种间影响。在我们大多数调查地点，意大利蜜蜂是数量最多的蜜蜂，但每次访问的效率较低，在恶劣天气下觅食活动减少。小型本地蜜蜂是高效的传粉者。它们的访问产生的种子数量几乎是意大利蜜蜂或华丽无垫蜂的两倍。熊蜂属、华丽无垫蜂和小型本地蜜蜂比意大利蜜蜂对温度、风速和太阳辐射的波动更具适应性。尽管盗蜜的北美木蜂通过直接访花对授粉的贡献很小，但它们在作物中的存在会影响其他个体的行为和表现。我们的结果强调了通过多种标准评估传粉者表现的重要性，表明不同蜜蜂群体以不同方式为授粉做出贡献。这些差异可能为农业系统提供授粉服务的功能互补性和稳定性。
