ISHS Acta Horticulturae 446: VI International Symposium on Vaccinium Culture
LIFETIME MONETARY VALUE OF INDIVIDUAL POLLINATORS: THE BEE HABROPODA LABORIOSA AT RABBITEYE BLUEBERRY (VACCINIUM ASHEI READE) |
| Author: | J.H. Cane |
| Keywords: | Apoidea, southeastern blueberry bee, pollination |
| Abstract:
The economic value of individual pollinators can be estimated as a product of five variables: single-visit pollination efficiency, daily foraging schedule and tempo, host fidelity, adult lifespan and the market value of the resultant fruit or seed. The southeastern blueberry bee, Habropoda laboriosa (Hymenoptera: Apidae), sequentially provisions its subterranean nest cells with pollen and nectar obtained solely from species of blueberries, including commercial rabbiteye blueberry, Vaccinium ashei. Mature berries result from single visits by freely-foraging female H. laboriosa to 37–41% of virgin flowers visited. Individual females visit more than 620 virgin V. ashei flowers for pollen to provision a single nest cell. Over her entire adult lifespan, each female is estimated to visit nearly 50 000 V. ashei flowers, producing over 6 000 ripe blueberries with a fresh market value of $20 U.S. | |
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