Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators

Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators

Large carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa) are wood-nesting generalist pollinators of broad geographical distribution that exhibit varying levels of sociality. Their foraging is characterized by a wide range of food plants, long season of activity, tolerance of high temperatures, and activity under low i...

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Main Author: Tamar Keasar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2010-01-01
Series:Psyche: A Journal of Entomology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/927463
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spelling doaj-51bd428d536b45979c14f39a3cee953d2020-11-25T00:14:47ZengHindawi LimitedPsyche: A Journal of Entomology0033-26151687-74382010-01-01201010.1155/2010/927463927463Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural PollinatorsTamar Keasar0Department of Science Education—Biology, University of Haifa, Oranim, Tivon 36006, IsraelLarge carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa) are wood-nesting generalist pollinators of broad geographical distribution that exhibit varying levels of sociality. Their foraging is characterized by a wide range of food plants, long season of activity, tolerance of high temperatures, and activity under low illumination levels. These traits make them attractive candidates for agricultural pollination in hot climates, particularly in greenhouses, and of night-blooming crops. Carpenter bees have demonstrated efficient pollination service in passionflower, blueberries, greenhouse tomatoes and greenhouse melons. Current challenges to the commercialization of these attempts lie in the difficulties of mass-rearing Xylocopa, and in the high levels of nectar robbing exhibited by the bees.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/927463
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Tamar Keasar
spellingShingle Tamar Keasar
Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators
Psyche: A Journal of Entomology
author_facet Tamar Keasar
author_sort Tamar Keasar
title Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators
title_short Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators
title_full Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators
title_fullStr Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators
title_full_unstemmed Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators
title_sort large carpenter bees as agricultural pollinators
publisher Hindawi Limited
series Psyche: A Journal of Entomology
issn 0033-2615
1687-7438
publishDate 2010-01-01
description Large carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa) are wood-nesting generalist pollinators of broad geographical distribution that exhibit varying levels of sociality. Their foraging is characterized by a wide range of food plants, long season of activity, tolerance of high temperatures, and activity under low illumination levels. These traits make them attractive candidates for agricultural pollination in hot climates, particularly in greenhouses, and of night-blooming crops. Carpenter bees have demonstrated efficient pollination service in passionflower, blueberries, greenhouse tomatoes and greenhouse melons. Current challenges to the commercialization of these attempts lie in the difficulties of mass-rearing Xylocopa, and in the high levels of nectar robbing exhibited by the bees.
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/927463
work_keys_str_mv AT tamarkeasar largecarpenterbeesasagriculturalpollinators
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