Foraging activity of pollinators on raspberry

Abstract

V preteklosti se je največ pozornosti v zvezi z opraševanjem namenjalo medonosni čebeli. Mnoge raziskave pa kažejo, da je zelo pomembna tudi vloga divjih opraševalcev. V nalogi smo zato želeli ugotoviti pestrost opraševalcev na štirih različnih sortah dvakrat rodnega malinjaka (Rubus idaeus) in s tem oceniti pomen divjih opraševalcev. Popis je potekal v letih 2016 in 2017 na Brdu pri Lukovici v sadovnjaku Kmetijskega inštituta Slovenije. Poleg popisa vrst smo merili tudi njihovo hitrost opraševanja. Ugotovili smo, da je najpogostejši opraševalec malin medonosna čebela. Preostali opraševalci (čebele samotarke, ose, čmrlji in dvokrilci) so bili zastopani v manjših deležih. Aktivnost opraševanja preko dneva se je pri posameznih skupinah precej razlikovala. Medonosna čebela je bila najbolj aktivna v osrednjem delu dneva, v primeru zelo visokih temperatur v kombinaciji s sončnim vremenom pa njena aktivnost v času opoldanske vročine rahlo pade. Čmrlji so najbolj aktivni zjutraj in v pozno popoldanskih urah. Pri hitrosti opraševalcev so prav tako velike razlike. Čebele samotarke se na cvetovih zadržijo najdlje. Čmrlji so med vsemi najhitrejši, saj obiščejo največ cvetov v določenem časovnem obdobju. Medonosne čebele in ose so po hitrosti nekje vmes. Pri ocenjevanju pomena opraševalcev je poleg številčnosti, potrebno upoštevati tudi njihovo učinkovitost opraševanja. Za zagotovitev zanesljivega opraševanja potrebujemo pestro združbo opraševalcev, katere pomen je najbolj očiten v primeru nepredvidljivih vremenskih razmer.In the past, honey bee used to get most of the attention regarding pollination. Today, many studies show the importance of wild pollinators. In this thesis, we wanted to determine the diversity of pollinators on four varieties of raspberry bush (Rubus idaeus) and assess the importance of wild pollinators. The field work has been done in the orchard maintained by The Agricultural Institute of Slovenia in Brdo pri Lukovici during two seasons in 2016 and 2017. Besides mapping the species and their visiting frequencies we also determined the speed of pollination. We found that the most numerous pollinator of raspberries is the honey bee. Other pollinators (solitary bees, wasps, bumblebees and dipterans) were present in much lower numbers. During the day, activity has differed greatly among these groups. Honey bee had its peak activity in the middle of the day. Only if the weather was very hot and sunny their activity decreased. Bumblebees had two peaks in activity, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. There were also differences in the speed of pollination between different groups. Solitary bees spent the longest time harvesting each flower. In contrast, bumblebees visited the highest number of flowers in a certain time period. The speed of pollination in honey bees and wasps is between solitary bees and bumblebees. When assessing the importance of pollinators, we have to be aware that besides abundance, pollination efficiency is also very important. To ensure reliable pollination we need diverse pollinators. Their importance can be more obvious during unpredictable weather conditions

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