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30 December 2017 Summer Flowering Cover Crops Support Wild Bees in Vineyards
Houston Wilson, Jessica S. Wong, Robbin W. Thorp, Albie F. Miles, Kent M. Daane, Miguel A. Altieri
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Abstract

Agricultural expansion and intensification negatively affect pollinator populations and has led to reductions in pollination services across multiple cropping systems. As a result, growers and researchers have utilized the restoration of local and landscape habitat diversity to support pollinators, and wild bees in particular. Although a majority of studies to date have focussed on effects in pollinator-dependent crops such as almond, tomato, sunflower, and watermelon, supporting wild bees in self-pollinated crops, such as grapes, can contribute to broader conservation goals as well as provide other indirect benefits to growers. This study evaluates the influence of summer flowering cover crops and landscape diversity on the abundance and diversity of vineyard bee populations. We showed that diversity and abundance of wild bees were increased on the flowering cover crop, but were unaffected by changes in landscape diversity. These findings indicate that summer flowering cover crops can be used to support wild bees and this could be a useful strategy for grape growers interested in pollinator conservation as part of a broader farmscape sustainability agenda.

© The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Houston Wilson, Jessica S. Wong, Robbin W. Thorp, Albie F. Miles, Kent M. Daane, and Miguel A. Altieri "Summer Flowering Cover Crops Support Wild Bees in Vineyards," Environmental Entomology 47(1), 63-69, (30 December 2017). https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvx197
Received: 21 August 2017; Accepted: 17 November 2017; Published: 30 December 2017
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KEYWORDS
cover crops
grape
landscape
vineyard
wild bees
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