Honeybee buzz attenuates plant damage by caterpillars

Journal of the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, 2006

Insects are viewed from the harmful perspectives and aimed at killing them through several means including indiscriminate use of deadly chemicals. If good judgment made keeping views on sustainable crop production, natural balance and pollution free environment, they are important component of the ecosystem and their beneficial aspects are immense. One of them is that insects provide pollination service to plants. The study showed that over 50 species of insects visited flowers of 17 different species of selected crops during flowering periods. The visiting preferences of insects to flowers of different crops differed among the crop species and insect species as well. In fact, of the total pollination activities, over 80% is performed by insects and bees contribute nearly 80% of the total insect pollination, and therefore, they are considered the best pollinators. The manmade agro-ecosystem exerted pressure and forced to decline pollinators and their diversity, which resulted in red...

Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2016

While addition of managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) improves pollination of many entomophilous crops, it is unknown if it simultaneously suppresses the densities of wild insects through competition. To investigate this, we added 624 honeybee hives to 23 fields of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) over 2 years and made sure that the areas around 21 other fields were free from honeybee hives. We demonstrate that honeybee addition depresses the densities of wild insects (bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, marchflies, other flies, and other flying and flower-visiting insects) even in a massive flower resource such as oilseed rape. The effect was independent of the complexity of the surrounding landscape, but increased with the size of the crop field, which suggests that the effect was caused by spatial displacement of wild insects. Our results have potential implications both for the pollination of crops (if displacement of wild pollinators offsets benefits achieved by adding honeybees) and for conservation of wild insects (if displacement results in negative fitness consequences).

Journal of Agriculture and Environment, 2009

Importance of honeybees as prime pollinators for continual maintenence of crop-diversity and need of their conservation for sustainable agriculture is highlighted based on literature review. Somatic, reproductive and adaptive heterosis or hybrid effects that occur in plant progeny as a result of natural cross-pollination by honeybees brings about significant qualitative and quantitative changes in the economic and biological characteristics of crop plants. Honeybees often facilitate genetic enrichment of native plants through crosspollination offering to their varietal development and adaptation in the changing environment. The natural environment is required to provide bees with habitat or nesting sites. Promotion of organic farming and integrated pest management programs are necessitated. Keywords: Eco-system; Honeybees; Pollinators; Cross-pollination; Sustainable agricultureThe Journal of Agriculture and Environment Vol:.9, Jun. 2008 Page: 90-92

Current opinion in plant biology, 2015

Pollination of crops by animals is an essential part of global food production, but evidence suggests that wild pollinator populations may be declining while a number of problems are besetting managed honey bee colonies. Animal-pollinated crops grown today, bred in an environment where pollination was less likely to limit fruit set, are often suboptimal in attracting and sustaining their pollinator populations. Research into plant-pollinator interactions is often conducted in a curiosity-driven, ecological framework, but may inform breeding and biotechnological approaches to enhance pollinator attraction and crop yield. In this article we review key topics in current plant-pollinator research that have potential roles in future crop breeding for enhanced global food security.

Environmental Management, 2011

Honeybee colonies are declining in some parts of the world. This may have important consequences for the pollination of crops and native plant species. In Spain, as in other parts of Europe, land abandonment has led to a decrease in the number of non professional beekeepers, which aggravates the problem of honeybee decline as a result of bee diseases In this study, we investigated the effects of honeybees on the pollination of three native plant species in northern Spain, namely wildcherry Prunus avium L., hawthorn Crataegus monogyna Jacq., and bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus L. We quantified fruit set of individuals from the target species along transects established from an apiary outwards. Half the samples were bagged in a nylon mesh to avoid insect pollination. Mixed-effects models were used to test the effect of distance to the apiary on fruit set in non-bagged samples. The results showed a negative significant effect of distance from the apiary on fruit set for hawthorn and bilberry, but no significant effects were detected for wildcherry. This suggests that the use of honeybees under traditional farming practices might be a good instrument to increase fruit production of some native plants. This may have important consequences for wildlife conservation, since fruits, and bilberries in particular, constitute an important feeding resource for endangered species, such as the brown bear Ursus arctos L. or the capercaillie Tetrao urogallus cantabricus L.

Phytochemistry, 2011

Plants are faced with a trade-off between on the one hand growth, development and reproduction and on the other hand defence against environmental stresses. Yet, research on insect-plant interactions has addressed plant-pollinator interactions and plant-attacker interactions separately. Plants have evolved a high diversity of constitutive and induced responses to attack, including the systemic emission of herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs). The effect of HIPVs on the behaviour of carnivorous insects has received ample attention for leaf-feeding (folivorous) species and their parasitoids and predators. Here, we review whether and to what extent HIPVs affect the interaction of plants in the flowering stage with mutualistic and antagonistic insects. Whereas the role of flower volatiles in the interactions between plants and insect pollinators has received increased attention over the last decade, studies addressing both HIPVs and pollinator behaviour are rare, despite the fact that in a number of plant species herbivory is known to affect flower traits, including size, nectar secretion and composition. In addition, folivory and florivory can also result in significant changes in flower volatile emission and in most systems investigated, pollinator visitation decreased, although exceptions have been found. Negative effects of HIPVs on pollinator visitation rates likely exert negative selection pressure on HIPV emission. The systemic nature of herbivore-induced plant responses and the behavioural responses of antagonistic and mutualistic insects, requires the study of volatile emission of entire plants in the flowering stage. We conclude that approaches to integrate the study of plant defences and pollination are essential to advance plant biology, in particular in the context of the trade-off between defence and growth/reproduction.

2018

2018

Besides, making use of agronomic inputs and biotechnological approaches, the third way of increasing crop production and productivity is through management of pollination. It is an essential ecological services, provide by pollinators, helps in mitigating the problems of food production, nutritional security and biodiversity conservation. Pollinators, both biotic and abiotic, play an important role in sustaining the life in earth. Among various biotic polzlinators, which include living organism such as insects, birds, bats and others, insect pollinators play significant role in increasing food production through the process of their foraging. In the world of insects, different species of bees including honeybees, bumble-bees, stingless bees, and solitary bees are the most effective pollinators of crops. Over 25,000 species of bees are reported to pollinate over 70% of the world’s cultivated crops. About 15% of the world’s 100 principal crops are pollinated by manageable species of h...

2020

Mutualisms between plants and their floral visitors sustain not only plant diversity, but also the diversity of an estimated 350, 000 animal species, mainly various insects, birds and mammals. Wild bees represent the most important group of pollinator insects because they play a key role in agriculture, pollinating almost all crop varieties. However, they are increasingly at risk of local and even global extinction. Climate change and habitat loss are affecting all major aspects of the biology of insects that pollinate plants in both natural and agricultural communities. Understanding network structure and its underlying causes are essential parts of any study of biodiversity and its responses to disturbances, yet it is a conceptual and methodological challenge to address these problems in highly diversified communities with thousands of interactions. Plant-pollinator communities are typically composed of a high number of plant species and an even greater number of pollinator species.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1995

Parasitic and predatory arthropods often prevent plants from being severely damaged by killing herbivores as they feed on the plants. Recent studies show that a variety of plants, when injured by herbivores, emit chemical signals that guide natural enemies to the herbivores. It is unlikely that herbivore-damaged plants initiate the production of chemicals solely to attract parasitoids and predators. The signaling role probably evolved secondarily from plant responses that produce toxins and deterrents against herbivores and antibiotics against pathogens. To effectively function as signals for natural enemies, the emitted volatiles should be clearly distinguishable from background odors, specific for prey or host species that feed on the plant, and emitted at tiknes when the natural enemies forage. Our studies on the phenomena of herbivore-induced emissions of volatiles in corn and cotton plants and studies conducted by others indicate that (i) the clarity of the volatile signals is high, as they are unique for herbivore damage, produced in relatively large amounts, and easily distinguishable from background odors; (ii) specificity is limited when different herbivores feed on the same plant species but high as far as odors emitted by different plant species and genotypes are concerned; (iii) the signals are timed so that they are mainly released during the daytime, when natural enemies tend to forage, and they wane slowly after herbivory stops.