DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9mg5c
title: Data from: Supplementing small farms with native mason bees increases strawberry size and growth rate

description: Pollination services, especially those of bees, play a vital role in
 agriculture. Declining honeybee populations require us to find alternative
 solutions for sustainable agriculture. Native bees are proving to be
 efficient pollinators. Mason bees (Osmia lignaria) provide valuable
 pollinator services for some woody orchard species, but their value as
 pollinators for herbaceous crops is largely untested. We assessed the
 effectiveness of O. lignaria supplementation on nine strawberry farms over
 two growing seasons. We specifically selected mason bees for this work
 because they emerge from cocoons in the springtime, when few other bees
 are available for pollination. Cocoons are easily deployed on farms and
 emerged bees have a small flight radius, so they remain localized. We
 placed cocoons on one side of each berry farm plot (our mason bee addition
 treatment) but not on the opposite side (our control). We tagged and
 monitored berries on nine farms throughout the growing season. We
 performed statistical comparisons of berries from the treatment and
 control for differences in berry growth rate and size. In addition, we
 supplemented farms with native bee homes constructed from three materials
 (bamboo, Phragmites and wood). This allowed us to determine whether adult
 mason bees would produce a subsequent generation of bees on farms and
 whether the bees had a preference for nest material type. Our work
 demonstrates that mason bees can be used successfully to pollinate
 herbaceous berry crops. We found that berry growth rate was significantly
 higher and berry volume was significantly larger for berries from the
 treatment relative to the control. We also found that adult bees
 successfully utilized the bee homes for laying the next generation of
 offspring and that bees colonized bamboo homes more than other home types.
 Synthesis and applications. Our results are the first to show that native
 mason bees (Osmia lignaria) can be used successfully to provide
 pollination services on strawberry farms. Their use results in the
 production of bigger berries and faster berry growth rates than managed
 honeybees alone. Mason bees overwinter (and can be purchased) in cocoons,
 offering great potential for efficient and effective pollination services,
 for a variety of agricultural applications across different geographical
 regions. The availability of suitable nesting sites and protection of
 subsequent generations of cocoons from wasp parasitization warrant future
 consideration.
description: Bee
 MeasurementsHere we have measured
 the size of the mason bees that were collected in the strawberry
 plotsJAEData.BeeSexLengths.csvJAEData.NestHomeColonizationThis file contains data on mason bee nest home colonization on berry farmsJAEData.NestHomeParasitizationThis file addresses the number of holes in mason bee homes that were colonized by mason bees (eggs laid) but then damaged by parasitizing predatory species like wasps.JAEData.StrawberryDataThis file contains measurements of berries on nine farm plots where half of each plot is a treatment (mason bee addition) and half is a control (no bee addition)