<html>
<body>
<font size=2>Rogers, S. R., et al. (2014). "Bee species diversity
enhances productivity and stability in a perennial crop." <u>PLoS
ONE</u> <b>9</b>(5): e97307.<br><br>
<dl>
<dd><x-tab> </x-tab>Wild
bees provide important pollination services to agroecoystems, but the
mechanisms which underlie their contribution to ecosystem functioning
therefore, their importance in maintaining and enhancing these
servicesunclear. We evaluated several mechanisms through which wild bees
contribute to crop productivity, the stability of pollinator visitation,
and the efficiency of individual pollinators in a highly bee-pollination
dependent plant, highbush blueberry. We surveyed the bee community
(through transect sampling and pan trapping) and measured pollination of
both open- and singly-visited flowers. We found that the abundance of
managed honey bees, Apis mellifera, and wild-bee richness were equally
important in describing resulting open pollination. Wild-bee richness was
a better predictor of pollination than wild-bee abundance. We also found
evidence suggesting pollinator visitation (and subsequent pollination)
are stabilized through the differential response of bee taxa to weather
(i.e., response diversity). Variation in the individual visit efficiency
of A. mellifera and the southeastern blueberry bee, Habropoda laboriosa,
a wild specialist, was not associated with changes in the pollinator
community. Our findings add to a growing literature that diverse
pollinator communities provide more stable and productive ecosystem
services.<br><br>
</font>
</dl></body>
</html>