Čebele - včeraj, danes, jutri

Čebele so se razvile skupaj s kritosemenkami. Živalski plen, s katerim so se hranile njihove prednice, so zamenjale s pelodom in medičino. Tako se je razvilo eno najbolj zanimivih zavezništev, sožitje med rastlinami in čebelami. Med bolj opaznimi posledicami tega sožitja je izjemna pestrost cvetov, s katerimi rastline privabljajo čebele, manj opazna in znana pa je pestrost čebel. Po svetu jih je kar okrog 20 tisoč vrst. Čeprav večina živi samotarsko, so najbolj znane tiste, ki živijo v skupnostih. Nekatere med njimi pridelujejo med in te so človeka privlačile že od nekdaj in sčasoma se je tudi med čebelami in človekom razvilo nekakšno sožitje. Človek je čebelam priskrbel domovanja, cvetoče rastline, ki jih je gojil, pa si bile bogat vir hrane. V zameno jim je vzel med, a ne toliko, da ne bi mogle preživeti

The development of new methods for monitoring biocontrol agent, Gliocladium catenulatum J1446, to control gray mold on strawberries

Gray mold, caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, is one of the most common and serious diseases affecting strawberries. Different fungicides are used to manage this disease but can quickly lose their effectiveness and their ability to suppress the disease. Therefore, much attention is devoted to biological methods of control in recent years. Preparation PrestopMIX (Verdera Oy, Finland) is available in some European countries. It contains a biocontrol agent (BCA), isolate J1446 of the fungus Gliocladium catenulatum, active against grey mold. In the project Bicopoll, a project of European transnational research cooperation project CORE Organic II, we are checking for residues of BSA in bee products (honey, pollen) and following BCA distribution to strawberry flowers by bees. For this purpose, we developed a new, BCA specific real time PCR, which allows us to detect BCA in different samples and quantify it. Development of a new method and its application will be presented

Use of honeybees (Apis mellifera) to protect strawberry from grey mould (Botrytis cinerea)

BICOPOLL is a CORE Organic II European project on protecting strawberries from its most important disease, the grey mould (Botrytis cinerea). Protective spores of fungi Gliocladium catenulatum in Prestop® Mix (PM) are delivered to the flowers of strawberry by honeybees. We assessed effectiveness of honeybees as vectors under field conditions. Flower visits of bees, and fruit yield were monitored and departing and returning bees and strawberry flowers were sampled. Bees visited strawberry flowers the whole flowering period, but more abundant were in warm weather and in the afternoon. The quantity of spores on honeybees was determined by plating on media and a new method, qPCR that we have developed specifically for the protective fungi. The highest number of spores on bees was determined directly after administration of PM followed by a steady decline during the day until stabilization at a low number. The spores could also be detected in returning bees at a relatively constant low number. PM increased proportion of healthy berries for approximately 50 %. Results of first field experiment in Slovenia confirmed effectiveness of bees as vector of PM. We suggest some changes in application of PM

A critical analysis of the potential for EU Common Agricultural Policy measures to support wild pollinators on farmland

1. Agricultural intensification and associated loss of high‐quality habitats are key drivers of insect pollinator declines. With the aim of decreasing the environmental impact of agriculture, the 2014 EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) defined a set of habitat and landscape features (Ecological Focus Areas: EFAs) farmers could select from as a requirement to receive basic farm payments. To inform the post‐2020 CAP, we performed a European‐scale evaluation to determine how different EFA options vary in their potential to support insect pollinators under standard and pollinator‐friendly management, as well as the extent of farmer uptake. 2. A structured Delphi elicitation process engaged 22 experts from 18 European countries to evaluate EFAs options. By considering life cycle requirements of key pollinating taxa (i.e. bumble bees, solitary bees and hoverflies), each option was evaluated for its potential to provide forage, bee nesting sites and hoverfly larval resources. 3. EFA options varied substantially in the resources they were perceived to provide and their effectiveness varied geographically and temporally. For example, field margins provide relatively good forage throughout the season in Southern and Eastern Europe but lacked early‐season forage in Northern and Western Europe. Under standard management, no single EFA option achieved high scores across resource categories and a scarcity of late season forage was perceived. 4. Experts identified substantial opportunities to improve habitat quality by adopting pollinator‐friendly management. Improving management alone was, however, unlikely to ensure that all pollinator resource requirements were met. Our analyses suggest that a combination of poor management, differences in the inherent pollinator habitat quality and uptake bias towards catch crops and nitrogen‐fixing crops severely limit the potential of EFAs to support pollinators in European agricultural landscapes. 5. Policy Implications. To conserve pollinators and help protect pollination services, our expert elicitation highlights the need to create a variety of interconnected, well‐managed habitats that complement each other in the resources they offer. To achieve this the Common Agricultural Policy post‐2020 should take a holistic view to implementation that integrates the different delivery vehicles aimed at protecting biodiversity (e.g. enhanced conditionality, eco‐schemes and agri‐environment and climate measures). To improve habitat quality we recommend an effective monitoring framework with target‐orientated indicators and to facilitate the spatial targeting of options collaboration between land managers should be incentivised

Čebele lahko pomagajo pri varstvu rastlin pred boleznimi

V ekološki pridelavi je uporaba pesticidov zelo omejena, zato se moramo z boleznimi in škodljivci spopadati na druge, naravi prijaznejše načine. Ena od možnosti je uporaba biokontrole, pri čemer nam lahko pomagajo tudi čebele. Na Nacionalnem inštitutu za biologijo v okviru evropskega projekta Bicopoll raziskujemo možnosti uporabe čebel pri zaščiti jagod

S čebelami do zdravih rastlin

BICOPOLL je mednarodni projekt, ki se izvaja v okviru iniciative ERA-NET CORE Organic II. Slovenski del financira ministrstvo za kmetijstvo in okolje. V projektu sodelujejo partnerji iz Finske, Estonije, Nemčije, Belgije, Italije, Turčije in Slovenije. Njegov namen je izboljšati metode nanosa biokontrolnih sredstev s pomočjo medonosne čebele, čmrljev in čebel samotark in jih s poljskimi poskusi testirati v različnih podnebnih razmerah