Bee Pollination in Agricultural Ecosystems

For many agricultural crops, bees play a vital role as pollinators, and this book discusses the interplay among bees, agriculture and the environment. Although honey bees are well recognized as pollinators, managed bumble bees and solitary bees are also critical for the successful pollinationof certain crops, while wild bees provide a free service. As bees liberally pass pollen from one plant to the next, they also impact the broader ecosystem, and not always to the benefit of humankind. Bees can enhance the unintentional spread of genes from genetically engineered plants, and mayincrease the spread of invasive weeds. Conversely, genetically engineered plants can impact pollinators, and invasive weeds can supply new sources of food for these insects. Bees' flower-visiting activities also can be exploited to help spread biological control agents that control crop pests, andthey are important for native plant reproduction. Managing bees for pollination is complex and factors that must take into consideration are treated here including bee natural history, physiology, pathology, and behavior. Furthermore, transporting bees from native ranges to new areas for pollinationservices can be controversial, and needs to be done only after assuring that it will not disrupt various ecosystems. Even though bees are small, unobtrusive creatures, they play large roles in the ecosystem. The connection between bees and humankind also is symbolic of a broader interconnectionbetween humans and the natural world.

Dr. Rosalind James is Research Leader of the Pollinating-Insect Biology, Management, and Systematics Research Unit in Logan, UT. The mission of the laboratory, also known as the Bee Biology and Systematics Lab, is to develop bees as sustainable pollinators of agricultural crops, focusing on domesticating new bee species, that is, bees other than honey bees. Additional research is directed in areas of bee biosystematics and pollination biology. Dr. James obtained a PhD in Entomology from Oregon State University and worked as a Senior Scientist at the EPA Environmental Research Laboratory in Corvallis, OR, before joining ARS as an expert in microbial control of insect pests. Dr. James's expertise is in insect pathology, and she now works on developing novel control options and delivery systems for the management of chalkbrood and other diseases, parasites, and predators in bees, especially the alfalfa leaf cutting bee. Her research contributes to our basic understanding of host-pathogen interactions and the improvement of methods for controlling bee diseases in agricultural production systems. Dr. James is currently active in the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, serving as Secretary/Treasurer (2004-2006) and Chair Elect (2006-2008) of the Fungus Division, and has published on a variety of subjects including bee diseases, biological control, genetic engineering, and risk assessment.
Theresa L. Pitts-Singer received her B.A. degrees in General Biology and Anthropology at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of Georgia (Athens, GA). Although she has worked with several insects (paper wasps, fungus-growing ants, boll weevils, termites, and bees that pollinate endangered plants), her interests focus on insect behavior and how chemicals mediate those behaviors. She has performed research with the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, the USDA Forest Service, and the University of Georgia Department of Entomology. She has taught upper-level classes for the University of Georgia, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica. She has been at the USDA-ARS Bee Biology & Systematics Laboratory in Logan, UT since 2002. Her current research focuses on determining the factors that effect leaf cutting bee reproduction in the field, exploring chemical cues used in nest establishment and individual nest recognition in both the leaf cutting bee and the blue orchard bee.