Reference number : GC-2017-Q3-00835, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Tyson, Rebecca (The University of British Columbia), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : British Columbia|Colombie-Britannique, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Strategic Projects - Group, program name french : Projets stratégiques - groupe, program purpose english : One in every three bites of food on the North American table exists only because a bee moved pollen from one flower to another. These ``pollination services'' are largely provided by domestic honeybees, but wild bees have an important role. Our focus here is on the pollination services provided to the extensive and economically important cultivated blueberry crops grown in Canada, particularly in the Fraser Valley (BC). Many blueberry varietals are adapted to `buzz pollination,'' a service provided only by wild bees. Wild bee populations, however, are in dramatic decline across the globe, with subsequent reductions in crop productivity._x000D_
Research suggests that habitat enhancements in the form of wildflower patches could attract and support wild bee populations. Currently, however, the available research can only be used to make very general recommendations, and it is unclear exactly what modifications would most benefit an individual farm. Consequently it is difficult for Fraser Valley blueberry growers to justify investing in expensive and/or time-consuming landscape manipulations. There is thus a need for modelling work, informed by parallel field work, to provide a quantitative means of comparing different wildflower planting arrangements in different agricultural landscapes. Our goal is to use field work and mathematical tools to develop a biologically-informed model that can be used to determine what arrangements of wildflower patches will yield the greatest crop yield in a given agricultural landscape for a given grower. Since recent research has shown that the mechanisms behind pollen deficits vary from one region to another, it is important that we select a particular region for our modelling study. We focus on the Fraser Valley, as this is the largest blueberry growing region in Canada, and pollination deficits in this region are significant (as high as 30%). Our modelling approach and tools, however, will establish a template that can be used to address the same research questions in other blueberry growing regions (e.g. Nova Scotia, Ontario) and in other wild bee-pollinated crops., program purpose french : One in every three bites of food on the North American table exists only because a bee moved pollen from one flower to another. These ``pollination services'' are largely provided by domestic honeybees, but wild bees have an important role. Our focus here is on the pollination services provided to the extensive and economically important cultivated blueberry crops grown in Canada, particularly in the Fraser Valley (BC). Many blueberry varietals are adapted to `buzz pollination,'' a service provided only by wild bees. Wild bee populations, however, are in dramatic decline across the globe, with subsequent reductions in crop productivity._x000D_
Research suggests that habitat enhancements in the form of wildflower patches could attract and support wild bee populations. Currently, however, the available research can only be used to make very general recommendations, and it is unclear exactly what modifications would most benefit an individual farm. Consequently it is difficult for Fraser Valley blueberry growers to justify investing in expensive and/or time-consuming landscape manipulations. There is thus a need for modelling work, informed by parallel field work, to provide a quantitative means of comparing different wildflower planting arrangements in different agricultural landscapes. Our goal is to use field work and mathematical tools to develop a biologically-informed model that can be used to determine what arrangements of wildflower patches will yield the greatest crop yield in a given agricultural landscape for a given grower. Since recent research has shown that the mechanisms behind pollen deficits vary from one region to another, it is important that we select a particular region for our modelling study. We focus on the Fraser Valley, as this is the largest blueberry growing region in Canada, and pollination deficits in this region are significant (as high as 30%). Our modelling approach and tools, however, will establish a template that can be used to address the same research questions in other blueberry growing regions (e.g. Nova Scotia, Ontario) and in other wild bee-pollinated crops., agreement title english : Determining optimal wildflower patch arrangements to maximize pollination services by wild bees in cultivated blueberry, agreement title french : Determining optimal wildflower patch arrangements to maximize pollination services by wild bees in cultivated blueberry, agreement number : STPGP, agreement value : 361995.0, agreement start date : 2017-10-18, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2020-2021)., additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2020-2021)., owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada