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Pollination
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==In agriculture== {{Main|List of crop plants pollinated by bees}} [[File:Pollinator-dependence.png|thumb|What crops are dependent on pollinators?]] [[File:Bee pollinating a rose.jpg|thumb|An ''[[Andrena]]'' bee gathers pollen from the [[stamens]] of a [[rose]]. The female [[carpel]] structure appears rough and globular to the left.]]The most essential staple food crops on the planet, like [[wheat]], [[maize]], [[rice]], [[soybean]]s and [[sorghum]]<ref name=FAOstats>{{cite web|title=FAOstats Food Supply - Crops Primary Equivalent |url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/CC |author=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] of the [[United Nations]], Statistics Division |year=2017 }}</ref><ref>FAO 2015. FAO Statistical Pocketbook 2015, {{ISBN|978-92-5-108802-9}}, p. 28</ref> are wind pollinated or self pollinating. When considering the top 15 crops contributing to the human diet globally in 2013, slightly over 10% of the total human diet of plant crops (211 out of 1916 kcal/person/day) is dependent upon insect pollination.<ref name=FAOstats /> [[Pollination management]] is a branch of agriculture that seeks to protect and enhance present pollinators and often involves the culture and addition of pollinators in [[monoculture]] situations, such as commercial fruit [[orchard]]s. The largest managed pollination event in the world is in [[California almond]] orchards, where nearly half (about one million [[beehive (beekeeping)|hives]]) of the US [[honey bee]]s are trucked to the almond orchards each spring. [[New York (state)|New York]]'s [[apple]] crop requires about 30,000 hives; [[Maine]]'s [[blueberry]] crop uses about 50,000 hives each year. The US solution to the pollinator shortage, so far, has been for commercial beekeepers to become pollination [[independent contractor|contractor]]s and to migrate. Just as the [[combine harvester]]s follow the [[wheat]] [[harvest]] from [[Texas]] to [[Manitoba]], beekeepers follow the bloom from south to north, to provide pollination for many different crops.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} In America, bees are brought to commercial plantings of [[cucumber]]s, [[squash (fruit)|squash]], [[melon]]s, [[strawberry|strawberries]], and many other crops. Honey bees are not the only managed pollinators: a few other [[species]] of bees are also raised as pollinators. The [[alfalfa leafcutter bee]] is an important pollinator for [[alfalfa]] [[seed]] in western United States and Canada. [[Bumblebee]]s are increasingly raised and used extensively for [[greenhouse]] [[tomato]]es and other crops. The [[ecology|ecological]] and financial importance of natural pollination by insects to [[agriculture|agricultural]] [[crops]], improving their quality and quantity, becomes more and more appreciated and has given rise to new financial opportunities. The vicinity of a [[forest]] or wild [[grassland]]s with native pollinators near agricultural crops, such as apples, almonds or [[coffee]] can improve their yield by about 20%.<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Pollinator biodiversity and economic value of pollination services in Uganda |url=http://makir.mak.ac.ug/handle/10570/2624 |publisher=Makerere University |date=2010-09-28 |degree=PhD |language=en |first=Theodore B. M. |last=Munyuli}}</ref> The benefits of native pollinators may result in forest owners demanding payment for their contribution in the improved crop results – a simple example of the economic value of ecological services. Farmers can also raise native crops in order to promote native bee pollinator species as shown with the native sweat bees ''[[Lasioglossum vierecki|L. vierecki]]'' in Delaware<ref name="Farming for native bees">{{cite web | vauthors = Kuehn F | date = 2015 | title = Farming for native bees. World Wide Web electronic publication. | url = http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/ProjectReport.aspx?do=viewRept&pn=LNE07-261&y=2011&t=1 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150930233624/http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/ProjectReport.aspx?do=viewRept&pn=LNE07-261&y=2011&t=1 | archive-date = 30 September 2015 | work = Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) }}</ref> and ''[[Lasioglossum leucozonium|L. leucozonium]]'' in southwest Virginia.<ref name="An Assessment of Non-Apis Bees as Fruit and Vegetable Crop Pollinators in Southwest Virginia">{{cite thesis | last = Adamson | first = Nancy Lee | name-list-style = vanc | degree = Ph.D. | url = http://www.step-project.net/NPDOCS/Adamson_NL_D_2011.pdf | title = An Assessment of Non-Apis Bees as Fruit and Vegetable Crop Pollinators in Southwest Virginia | date = 2011 }}</ref> The [[American Institute of Biological Sciences]] reports that native insect pollination saves the United States [[Agriculture|agricultural]] economy nearly an estimated $3.1 billion annually through natural crop production;<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Losey JE, Vaughan M | title = The economic value of ecological services provided by insects. | journal = BioScience | date = April 2006 | volume = 56 | issue = 4 | pages = 311–23 | doi = 10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[311:TEVOES]2.0.CO;2 | doi-access = free }}</ref> pollination produces some $40 billion worth of products annually in the United States alone.<ref name="USFS">{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/factsheet_pollinator.pdf |title=US Forest Department: Pollinator Factsheet |access-date=2014-04-18|archive-date=June 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623171524/http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/factsheet_pollinator.pdf}}</ref> Pollination of food crops has become an [[environmental movement|environmental issue]], due to two trends. The trend to [[monoculture]] means that greater concentrations of pollinators are needed at bloom time than ever before, yet the area is [[forage (honeybee)|forage]] poor or even deadly to bees for the rest of the season. The other trend is the [[pollinator decline|decline of pollinator populations]], due to [[pesticide]] misuse and overuse, new diseases and [[parasite]]s of bees, [[clearfelling|clearcut logging]], decline of beekeeping, [[suburb]]an development, removal of [[hedge (barrier)|hedge]]s and other [[Habitat (ecology)|habitat]] from [[farm]]s, and public concern about bees. Widespread [[agricultural aircraft|aerial spraying]] for [[mosquito]]es due to [[West Nile fever|West Nile]] fears is causing an acceleration of the loss of pollinators. Changes in land use, harmful pesticides, and advancing climate change threaten wild pollinators, key insect species that increase yields of three-fourths of crop varieties and are critical to growing healthy foods. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Communications |first=Todd Datz Harvard Chan School |date=2022-12-14 |title=New study shows impact pollinators have on human health |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/12/new-study-shows-impact-pollinators-have-on-human-health/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Harvard Gazette |language=en-US}}</ref> In some situations, farmers or horticulturists may aim to restrict natural pollination to only permit breeding with the preferred individuals plants. This may be achieved through the use of [[pollination bag]]s. ===Improving pollination in areas with suboptimal bee densities=== In some instances growers' demand for beehives far exceeds the available supply. The number of managed beehives in the US has steadily declined from close to 6 million after WWII, to less than 2.5 million today. In contrast, the area dedicated to growing bee-pollinated crops has grown over 300% in the same time period. Additionally, in the past five years there has been a decline in winter managed beehives, which has reached an unprecedented rate of colony losses at near 30%.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Biesmeijer JC, Roberts SP, Reemer M, Ohlemüller R, Edwards M, Peeters T, Schaffers AP, Potts SG, Kleukers R, Thomas CD, Settele J, Kunin WE | display-authors = 6 | title = Parallel declines in pollinators and insect-pollinated plants in Britain and the Netherlands | journal = Science | volume = 313 | issue = 5785 | pages = 351–4 | date = July 2006 | pmid = 16857940 | doi = 10.1126/science.1127863 | bibcode = 2006Sci...313..351B | s2cid = 16273738 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cox-Foster DL, Conlan S, Holmes EC, Palacios G, Evans JD, Moran NA, Quan PL, Briese T, Hornig M, Geiser DM, Martinson V, vanEngelsdorp D, Kalkstein AL, Drysdale A, Hui J, Zhai J, Cui L, Hutchison SK, Simons JF, Egholm M, Pettis JS, Lipkin WI | display-authors = 6 | title = A metagenomic survey of microbes in honey bee colony collapse disorder | journal = Science | volume = 318 | issue = 5848 | pages = 283–7 | date = October 2007 | pmid = 17823314 | doi = 10.1126/science.1146498 | bibcode = 2007Sci...318..283C | s2cid = 14013425 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Woteki C | title = The road to pollinator health | journal = Science | volume = 341 | issue = 6147 | pages = 695 | date = August 2013 | pmid = 23950499 | doi = 10.1126/science.1244271 | bibcode = 2013Sci...341..695W | author-link = Catherine Woteki | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/130116|title=EFSA Press Release: EFSA identifies risks to bees from neonicotinoids |publisher=Efsa.europa.eu |date= 2013-01-16|access-date=2014-04-18}}</ref> At present, there is an enormous demand for beehive rentals that cannot always be met. There is a clear need across the agricultural industry for a management tool to draw pollinators into cultivations and encourage them to preferentially visit and pollinate the flowering crop. By attracting pollinators like honey bees and increasing their foraging behavior, particularly in the center of large plots, we can increase grower returns and optimize yield from their plantings. ISCA Technologies,<ref name="ISCA Technologies">{{cite web |url=http://www.iscatech.com/exec/index.html |title=ISCA Technologies: A Leader of Innovative Pest Management Tools and Solutions |publisher=Iscatech.com |access-date=2014-04-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410230851/http://www.iscatech.com/exec/index.html |archive-date=2014-04-10}}</ref> from [[Riverside, California]], created a semiochemical formulation called SPLAT Bloom, that modifies the behavior of honey bees, inciting them to visit flowers in every portion of the field.{{Advert inline|date=June 2022}}
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