TB191: Conservation and Management of Native Bees in Cranberry

Threats to agriculturally important pollinators have serious implications for human beings. A loss of bees translates to less successful crop pollination, thus reduced yield and poorer quality fruits. Native bees have the potential to serve as commercial pollinators. A diverse pollinator complex comprised of both honey bees and native bees should result in stable pollination levels and should be resistant to threats such as disease, fluctuating honey and crop prices, and honey bee transportation costs. Adding the goal of native bee conservation to land management increases the ecological integrity of an ecosystem by conserving a unique biological interaction that is the basis for most native wild plant reproduction. This report describes pollination in the cranberry agroecosystem and outlines steps to take to manage native bees in cranberry.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_techbulletin/1017/thumbnail.jp

Facilitating equitable research access for people living in care homes

Key PointsEditorial to accompany ‘Research happens a lot in other settings—so why not here?’ A qualitative interview study of stakeholders’ views about advance planning for care home residents’ research participation [ 2].Advance Research Planning is conceptually interesting but raises significant implementation challenges in care homes.Initiatives to enable research participation throughout the life course could help normalise research across health and care settings.People living in care homes should have access to relevant research opportunities equal to other community citizens.Impactful care home research requires co-design, adequate funding, and must be focused on care home priorities

Is the Hyporheic Zone Relevant beyond the Scientific Community?

Rivers are important ecosystems under continuous anthropogenic stresses. The hyporheic zone is a ubiquitous, reactive interface between the main channel and its surrounding sediments along the river network. We elaborate on the main physical, biological, and biogeochemical drivers and processes within the hyporheic zone that have been studied by multiple scientific disciplines for almost half a century. These previous efforts have shown that the hyporheic zone is a modulator for most metabolic stream processes and serves as a refuge and habitat for a diverse range of aquatic organisms. It also exerts a major control on river water quality by increasing the contact time with reactive environments, which in turn results in retention and transformation of nutrients, trace organic compounds, fine suspended particles, and microplastics, among others. The paper showcases the critical importance of hyporheic zones, both from a scientific and an applied perspective, and their role in ecosystem services to answer the question of the manuscript title. It identifies major research gaps in our understanding of hyporheic processes. In conclusion, we highlight the potential of hyporheic restoration to efficiently manage and reactivate ecosystem functions and services in river corridors. View Full-Tex

Using Peer Discussion Facilitated by Clicker Questions in an Informal Education Setting : Enhancing Farmer Learning of Science

PLoS ONE, Vol. 7, No. 10Blueberry growers in Maine attend annual Cooperative Extension presentations given by university faculty members. These presentations cover topics, such as, how to prevent plant disease and monitor for insect pests. In 2012, in order to make the sessions more interactive and promote learning, clicker questions and peer discussion were incorporated into the presentations. Similar to what has been shown at the undergraduate level, after peer discussion, more blueberry growers gave correct answers to multiple-choice questions than when answering independently. Furthermore, because blueberry growers are characterized by diverse levels of education, experience in the field etc., we were able to determine whether demographic factors were associated with changes in performance after peer discussion. Taken together, our results suggest that clicker questions and peer discussion work equally well with adults from a variety of demographic backgrounds without disadvantaging a subset of the population and provide an important learning opportunity to the least formally educated members. Our results also indicate that clicker questions with peer discussion were viewed as a positive addition to university-related informal science education sessions

Snapshot Sampling May Not Be Enough to Obtain Robust Estimates for Riverine Microplastic Loads

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been described as key contributors of microplastics (MPs) to aquatic systems, yet temporal fluctuations in MP concentrations and loads downstream are underexplored. This study investigated how different sampling frequencies (hourly, weekly, and monthly) affect MP estimates in a stream linked to a single WWTP. Utilizing fluorescence microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, considerable hourly variations in MP concentrations were discovered, while the polymer composition remained consistent. This temporal variability in MP loads was influenced by MP concentration, discharge rates, or a mix of both. These results show a high uncertainty, as relying on sparse snapshot samples combined with annual discharge data led to significant uncertainties in MP load estimates (over- and/or underestimation of emissions by 3.8 billion MPs annually at this site). Our findings stress the necessity of higher-frequency sampling for better comprehending the hydrodynamic factors influencing MP transport. This improved understanding enables a more accurate quantification of MP dynamics, crucial for downstream impact assessments. Therefore, preliminary reconnaissance campaigns are essential for designing extended, representative site-monitoring programs and ensuring more precise trend predictions on a larger scale.</p

2018 Wild Blueberry Project Reports

ENTOMOLOGY PAGE 1. Pest biology and IPM, 2018 2. Biology of spotted wing drosophila, 2018 3. Biology of blueberries, beneficial insects, and pollinators, 2018 DISEASE MANAGEMENT 4. Research and control of leaf spot diseases, 2018 5. Research and control of mummy berry, 2018 WEED MANAGEMENT 6. Fall versus spring application of Zeus Prime XC for weed control in wild blueberry fields, 2016-18 – crop year results 7. Comparisons of pre-emergence applications of Zeus Prime XC and Rely 280 for weed control in wild blueberry fields – crop year results 8. Application timings of Rely 280 and Chateau for red sorrel control in wild blueberry fields, 2017-19 9. Combinations of pre-emergence Trellis SC with post-emergence Arrow for weed control in wild blueberry fields 10. Evaluation of spring Express application on control of bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) in wild blueberry fields 11. Evaluation of post-emergence Express application on control of target weeds in wild blueberry fields 12. Crop year application of Select Max for grass control in wild blueberry fields 13. Evaluation of Zeus Prime XC fall application for control of poison ivy in wild blueberry fields 14. Evaluation of post-emergence Mission application on control of fine leaf sheep fescue (Festuca filiformis) in wild blueberry fields EXTENSION 15. Wild Blueberry Extension Education Program in 2018 16. Lily Calderwood’s Wild Blueberry Extension Program in 201

Cryptic diversity in the North American Dromochorus tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae): a congruence-based method for species discovery

A fundamental problem in biodiversity science is determining the number of species in any taxon, and there is a growing awareness that cryptic diversity contributes to this problem – even in well-studied groups. Discovering cryptic species requires several lines of evidence to elucidate congruent patterns across data-types, and distinguish unrecognized species. Tiger beetles are among the most well-studied insect groups; yet few new North American species have been described since the mid-20th century, suggesting that that the number of morphologically distinct species is reaching an asymptote. We explore the possibility that more species exist in the fauna as cryptic species, by analysing a broad geographic sample of all species in the genus Dromochorus. We employ a ‘taxonomic congruence’ approach, where we first generate species hypotheses from patterns of reciprocal monophyly across the mitochondrial and nuclear datasets, and test these hypotheses through congruence with population structure, morphological measures and ecological divergence. We find broad congruence that supports eight species of Dromochorus, more than doubling the known diversity. We also validate a previously ambiguous taxon, and re-describe previously named species. Lastly, we identify new diagnostic morphological characters, include an updated dichotomous key and provide updated natural history/ecological characteristics for the genus and individual species