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 Pollination is the most important contribution bees make to human economies. The value of honey and beeswax pales in comparison to the value of fruits, vegetables, seeds, oils and fibers whose yields are optimized by pollinating bees.
The collapse of the ubiquitous honey bee population during the past 20 years has caused a pollination vacuum for many crops. Surveys and grower experience indicate that a crisis exists in our pollinator populations.
Crop Pollination by Bees is an accessible, practical and authoritative research-based guide to using bees for crop pollination. It is co-authored by UGA professor of entomology Keith Delaplane and Daniel Mayer, research entomologist at the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center of Washington State University.
The book emphasizes conserving feral bee populations as well as more traditional methods of culturing honey bees and other bees. The three main sections address the biology of pollination, methods of culturing and conserving bees for optimum pollination, and the pollination requirements and recommendations for individual crops. This last section includes 42 short chapters on different crops. It is essential reading for researchers and students of entomology, crop science and ecology and also for those working in the field with bees.
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