MR448: Bees and Their Habitats in Four New England States

Bees are crucial to pollination in unmanaged ecosystems and some crops, and their roles are increasingly understood in four states in the Northeastern U.S., abbreviated “NNE” in this paper: Maine (ME), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), and Vermont (VT). The four states have in common many native bee and plant species, forest types, and natural communities. They share drought events and risk of wildfire (Irland 2013). They are exposed to many of the same major storms (e.g., hurricanes, Foster 1988), pollution events (Hand et al. 2014), and effects ascribed to climate change (Hayhoe et al. 2008). Beekeeping enterprises (the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, an introduced species) of various sizes exist in each of the states. By including the four states in this review, we hope to better understand wild bee distributions, inspire the expansion of floral resources to support bee populations in a strategic manner, reduce use of pesticides, create pollinator corridors, and protect subtle habitat features such as ground nest sites for solitary bees and patches of native vegetation that are free of invasive plants. Our objective in this review is to synthesize from a conservation standpoint the state of knowledge regarding bees in NNE, including their diversity, and biology especially as it relates to climate change. We review foraging and nutrition, nest ecology, parasites and parasitoids, native vs. managed bees, and interactions with plants. We then turn our focus to bee habitats, and identify 15 habitat types we find useful for recognizing essential bee resources. We discuss habitat aspects including forest succession, invasive plants, land use alterations, and agriculture including impacts of pesticides, and cover economic aspects of crop-related pollination reservoirs in NNE that demonstrate cost-effectiveness at various scales. We present habitat improvement strategies including passive and active approaches, based on the literature and our experiences in NNE, and we suggest plants for pollinator plantings. Wherever pertinent throughout the text, we highlight threats to bees in our region such as pests and pathogens, pesticides, and habitat loss. Finally, we identify gaps in knowledge that could help in prioritizing directions for future research. We hope this review will be useful to anyone seeking to protect bees and their habitats.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_miscreports/1029/thumbnail.jp

2012 Wild Blueberry Project Reports

The 2012 edition of the Wild Blueberry Project Reports was prepared for the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and the Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include: 1. Do wild blueberries alleviate risk factors related to the Metabolic Syndrome? 2. Development of effective intervention measures to maintain and improve food safety for wild blueberries 3. Control tactics for blueberry pest insects, 2012 4. Development and implementation of a wild blueberry thrips IPM program, 2012 5. IPM 6. Biology of blueberry and pest insects, 2012 7. Biology of beneficial insects and blueberry pollination, 2012 8. Pesticide residues on lowbush blueberry, 2012 9. Maine wild blueberry –mummy berry research and extension 10. Efficacy of Apogee growth regulator for stimulating rhizome growth into bare spots in wild blueberry fields 11. Velpar by Matrix pre and post-emergence applications - demonstration plots 12. Wild blueberry Extension Education Program in 2012 INPUT SYSTEMS STUDY: 13. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Three of a four-year study – experimental design 14. Food safety- Prevalence study of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. on lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) 15. Abundance of insect pest species and natural enemies in lowbush blueberry fields maintained under different management practices 16. Input Systems Study: Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year 3 of a four-year study, disease management results 17. Plant productivity, Year Three of a four-year study 18. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Three of a four-year study, weed management results 19. Effects of organic and conventional management systems on the phosphorus solubility of lowbush blueberry barren soils 20. Systems approach to improving sustainability of wild blueberry production – soil health and chemistry measures 21. Evaluation of fungicides for control of mummy berry disease (ancillary study) 22. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production – Ancillary land-leveling study, Year Two of a four-year study (ancillary study) 23. Pre-emergent combinations of herbicides for weed control in wild blueberry fields – 2012 results from the 2011 trial (ancillary study) 24. Pre-emergent combinations of herbicides for weed control in wild blueberry fields – 2012 trial (ancillary study) 25. Evaluation of herbicides for control of fineleaf sheep fescue for grass control in wild blueberries (ancillary study) 26. Pre-emergence application timing and rate of Alion and Sandea in combination with Velpar or Sinbar on weed control and injury to wild blueberry (ancillary study) 27. Compost and mulch effects on soil health and nutrient dynamics in wild blueberry (ancillary study

2013 Wild Blueberry Project Reports

The 2013 edition of the Wild Blueberry Project Reports was prepared for the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and the Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include: 1. Development of effective intervention measures to maintain and improve food safety for wild blueberries 2. Do wild blueberries alleviate risk factors related to the Metabolic Syndrome? 3. Wild Blueberry consumption and exercise-induced Oxidative Stress: Inflammatory Response and DNA damage 4. Control tactics for blueberry pest insects, 2013 5. Pesticide residues on wild blueberry, 2013 6. Biology of pest insects and IPM, 2013 7. Biology of blueberry, beneficial insects, and blueberry pollination 8. Biology of spotted wing drosophila, 2013 9. Maine wild blueberry –mummy berry research and extension 10. Evaluation of fungicides for control of mummy berry on lowbush blueberry (2013) 11. Wild blueberry Extension Education Program in 2013 INPUT SYSTEMS STUDY: 12. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Four of a four-year study – experimental design 13. Food safety- Prevalence study of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. on lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) 14. Agronomic input effects on sensory quality and chemical composition of wild Maine blueberries 15. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year four of a four-year study – reports from Frank Drummond 16. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year 4 of a four-year study, disease management results 17. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Four of a four-year study, weed management results 18. Phosphorus and organic matter interactions on short-range ordered minerals in acidic barren soils 19. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, preliminary economic comparison for 2012-13 20. Ancillary projects in disease research (ancillary study) 21. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production – Ancillary land-leveling study, Year Three of a four-year study (ancillary study) 22. Pre-emergent combinations of herbicides for weed control in wild blueberry fields – 2013 results from the 2012 trial (ancillary study) 23. Evaluation of herbicides for 2012 prune year control of fineleaf sheep fescue in wild blueberries – 2013 crop year results (ancillary study) 24. 2012 pre-emergence application timing and rate of Alion and Sandea in combination with Velpar or Sinbar – 2013 yields (ancillary study) 25. Pre-emergence Sinbar combinations for weed control in a non-crop wild blueberry field – 2012-2014 (ancillary study) 26. Evaluation of three pre-emergence herbicides alone and in combination with Velpar or Sinbar for effects on wild blueberry productivity and weed control (ancillary study) 27. Post-harvest control of red sorrel in a non-crop blueberry field, 2012-2014 (ancillary study) 28. Compost and mulch effects on soil health and nutrient dynamics in wild blueberry (ancillary study) 29. Evaluation of conventional and organic fertilizers on blueberry growth and yield (ancillary study