Crop pollination by bees, Volume 1: Evolution, ecology, conservation, and management

Abstract

Abstract This volume is intended as a practical guide to bees and how they pollinate essential crops, providing simple, succinct advice on how to increase bee abundance and pollination. It focuses on bees, their biology, coevolution with plants, foraging ecology and management, and gives practical ways to increase bee abundance and pollinating performance on the farm. This volume covers five groups of pollinating bees that are prominent in the crop pollination literature: honeybees (Chapter 7); bumble bees (Chapter 8); managed solitary bees including the alfalfa leafcutting, alkali and orchard mason bees (Chapter 9); wild bees (Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and Chapter 10); and the tropical stingless bees. This volume will be essential reading for farmers, horticulturists and gardeners, researchers and professionals working in insect ecology and conservation, and students of entomology and crop protection.