[Pollinator] Fact Checking?

[Peter Bernhardt]

Within the last week there two statements appeared regarding the the
pollination of crops.  The comments of members working on bee-pollination
of crops would be appreciated.

1) November 5, Saint Louis U.  A bee conservation lecture series was held.
One of the speakers was Gerald Hayes from Monsanto on the role of honeybees
and our food supply.  Hayes insisted that our North American, cultivated,
cranberries were pollinated by honeybees.  Is this correct?  I remember a
seminar by Jim Cane emphasizing the importance of native megachilids for
cranberry pollination.  The speaker also insisted that blueberries were
pollinated primarily by honeybees in North America.

2) CJ Bradshaw and Paul Ehrlich released a coauthored by book from
University of Chicago Press (my publisher) last month.  On page 58 the
authors insist that Trigona (species not identified) pollinates 90 species
of crop plants including coffee.  I know that most coffee marketed today is
self-pollinating although it still yields sufficient nectar for introduced
honeybees to make honey but what of the other 89 other crop species?  I am
aware that Trigona pollinate avocados, macadamias and a few other fruit/nut
trees but, generally speaking, their bodies are too small to contact both
anthers and stigmas as they forage.

Peter
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