<div dir="ltr">Jim Cane asked me to share his references with you ... an Easter egg of the academic kind! KiM<br><br><div><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Cane, Jim</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Jim.Cane@ars.usda.gov">Jim.Cane@ars.usda.gov</a>></span><br>
Date: 28 March 2013 19:38<br>Subject: RE: [Pollinator] Alfalfa and Its Pollinators- some more refs<br>To: Kimberley Fellows <<a href="mailto:kimberley.fellows@gmail.com">kimberley.fellows@gmail.com</a>><br><br><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Kim- there are some additional papers of use to you, I believe. One practical question to consider is your level of tolerance. Resistance to the herbicide Round-Up exists naturally in plant populations. A beautiful study in Australia
documented the degree of gene flow for this trait in the first year that GMO canola was grown there, replicated over a huge geographic range, and with sufficient sensitivity that they detected the fraction of a percent that was naturally resistant before introduction.
With most GMO traits, one could not afford that kind of replication.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Below is a summary of experiments focused on gene flow with alfalfa and its different prevalent pollinators. Honey bees are used in the California Central Valley, but it takes tricky water management to water stress the plant to weaken
the tripping mechanism so that a honey bee does not mind it, then restore water before you kill the plant, then repeat.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:24.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Van Deynze, A. E., Fitzpatrick, S. M., Hammon, B., McCaslin, M. H., Putnam, D. H., Teuber, L. R., and Undersander, D. J.
Gene flow in alfalfa: biology, mitigation, and potential impact on production. Special Publ.[28], -30pp. 2008. Ames, Iowa, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
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Ref Type: Serial (Book,Monograph)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another is this insightful field study, which shows that alfalfa foragers travel out into a field, then forage very locally, then fly home. Foraging distance does not equate with flight distance.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:24.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">St.Armand P. C., D. Z. Skinner, and R. N. Peaden. 2000. Risk of alfalfa transgene dissemination and scale-dependent effects.
Theoretical and Applied Genetics, <b>101:</b>107-114.<br>
Ref Type: Journal<br>
Abstract: Pollen can function as a vehicle to disseminate introduced, genetically engineered genes throughout a plant population or into a related species. The measurement of the risk of inadvertent dispersal of transgenes must include the assessment of accidental
dispersion of pollen. Factors to be considered include the rate of pollen spread, the maximal dispersion distance of pollen, and the spatial dynamics of pollen movement within seed production fields; none of which are known for alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.),
an insect-pollinated crop species. Using a rare, naturally occurring molecular marker, alfalfa pollen movement was tracked from seed and hay production fields. Results indicated that leafcutter bees ((Megachile spp.) used in commercial seed production show
a directional, non-random bias when pollinating within fields, primarily resulting in the movement of pollen directly towards and away from the bee domicile. Within-field pollen movement was detected only over distances of 4 m or less. Dispersal of pollen
from alfalfa hay and seed production fields occurs at distances up to 1000 m. By examining widely dispersed, individual escaped alfalfa plants and their progeny using RAPD markers, gene movement among escaped alfalfa plants has been confirmed for distances
up to 230 m. The outcrossing frequency for large fields was nearly 10-times greater than that of research-sized plots. A minimum isolation distance of 1557 m may be required to prevent gene flow in alfalfa. Data suggest that complete containment of transgenes
within alfalfa seed or hay production fields would be highly unlikely using current production practices</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And last, for pollination efficacies, there is my own little comparative study. Basically, tripping rate predicts everything that follows (pod set and seed set).</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:24.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Cane J. H. 2002. Pollinating bees (Hymenoptera: Apiformes) of U.S. alfalfa compared for rates of pod and seed set. Journal
of Economic Entomology, <b>95:</b>22-27.<br>
Ref Type: Journal<br>
Abstract: Alfalfa (=lucerne) flowers require visiting bees to trip the sexual column, thereby providing pollination and subsequent pod and seed set. Previous studies have compared the pollination values of different bee species solely by the speed with which
they handle flowers and the proportion of visited flowers tripped. In this greenhouse study, five species of bees, including the three commercially managed U.S alfalfa pollinators, are likewise compared for their floral tripping frequencies. These bee species
are also compared for the pod set and mature seed that results from their single visits to virgin flowers. Regardless of the identity of the pollinating bee, tripped flowers had the same probabilities of pod set and seed set. Thus, differences in the single-visit
pollination efficiencies of the various bee species are entirely attributable to the proportion of visited flowers that they trip. Females of the alkali bee, Nomia melanderi Cockerell, and the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata F, tripped 81 and
78% of visited flowers, respectively. Males of these species are significantly less effective (61 and 51%, respectively), but still significantly superior to the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (22% of visited flowers tripped). These relationships are supported
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Papyrus">Jim</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">===============================</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">James H. Cane</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">USDA-ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Lab</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322 USA
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tel: <a href="tel:435-797-3879" value="+14357973879" target="_blank">435-797-3879</a> FAX: <a href="tel:435-797-0461" value="+14357970461" target="_blank">435-797-0461</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">email: <a href="mailto:Jim.Cane@ars.usda.gov" target="_blank">Jim.Cane@ars.usda.gov</a>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">web page:
<u><span style="color:blue"><a href="http://www.ars.usda.gov/npa/beelab" target="_blank">www.ars.usda.gov/npa/beelab</a></span></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">publications:<u><span style="color:blue"> <a href="http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/piru/" target="_blank">http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/piru/</a></span></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Gardening for Bees: <a href="http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/factsheet/plants-pollinators09.pdf" target="_blank">http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/factsheet/plants-pollinators09.pdf</a></span></p>
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