Pollinating bees crucial to farming wildflower seed for U.S. habitat restoration

Abstract

Federal land managers desire seed of Great Basin perennial wildflowers, mixed with grass and shrub seed, for restoration of millions of acres of sagebrush communities degraded by altered wildfire regimes, and exotic grasses and forbs. For 15 candidate wildflower species to be farmed for seed production, all were found to need pollinators, typically bees (Apiformes), for fruit and seed production. Some can be pollinated with currently managed bees (honey bees, alfalfa leaf-cutting bees), but for others, management protocols and starting populations are being developed for suitable species of native Osmia bees.

Citation

Cane, James H. 2008. Pollinating bees crucial to farming wildflower seed for U.S. habitat restoration. In: Pitts-Singer, Theresa L.; James, Rosalind, editors. Bees in Agricultural Ecosystems. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Oxford Scholarship Online. p. 48-64.