On Pollinators & Their Conservation: History ... Club 2009.pdf · •US NRC (2007) Status of...
Transcript of On Pollinators & Their Conservation: History ... Club 2009.pdf · •US NRC (2007) Status of...
Canada’s Pioneering
Roles in Protecting
Pollinators
Peter Kevan
University of Guelph
November 19, 2009
Canadian Club of Halton Peel
Why Protect Pollinators?
• Food Security
• Fibre Production
• Vegetable Oils
• Seed Production
• Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture
• Forestry & Forest Ecosystem Sustainability
• Wilderness Ecosystems: Arctic to Tropical
Pollination is an Essential & Crucial Ecosystem
Service that links Plant & Animal Biodiversity on Earth
Pollination: For Food. For Fibre Centrality of Pollination Services
• Pollination: an Essential Natural Services
Insect pollination
has an estimated
worth for food and
fibre production of
$217 Billion/year
globally!
1 in 3 bites of
food: Thank a
pollinator!
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages
• Since the dawn of agriculture
– Figs
– Dates
Amos of the
Old Testament
was a fig-
piercer (2800
BP)
Herodotus 2500 BP
Babylonian date pollination
by hand 3700 BP
Pollination & Pollinator
Shortages
• Recent examples
– Red clover in New Zealand (19th C)
• No bumblebees
– Alfalfa in western Canada (20th C)
• Agriultural intesification
– Oil palm in Malaysia (20th C)
• Hand pollination costly
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages
• Agriculture: Practices & Intensifation
• Pesticides
• Habitat Destruction
• Habitat Loss
• Habitat Fragmentation
• Diseases & Parasites
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages
Canadian Stories
• Canadian Examples: Canadian Leadership
– An Apple a Day
– Alfalfa Seeds, Forage, and Leafcutting Bees
– Blueberries, Bees, Business & Litigation
– Tomatoes & Bumblebees in the Greenhouse
– Honeybees, Beekeeping … Honey, we got
problems!
– Emerging problems & NSERC-CANPOLIN
An Apple a Day!
Lessons from Apples apply
to most orchard fruits:
Pears, Cherries, Plums, etc
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – Apple
• Apple in the Canadian East
• Native bees (many species)
effective (J. Macoun 1923, 1924)
• Insecticides problematic,
studies by W.H. Brittain
and team (1928-1932)
in Annapolis Valley, NS
• Solution
John Macoun
W. H. Brittain
• Honeybee husbandry
• Hive-mounted
pollen dispensers
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – Apple
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – Apple
• Changes in pesticide application policies and legislation (Bees Acts across Canada, Ontario first in 1887)– Do not spray blooming crops!
Bees Act
R.R.O. 1990, REGULATION 57
• Spraying of fruit trees
• 18. No person shall spray or dust fruit trees during the period within which
the trees are in bloom with a mixture containing any poisonous substance
injurious to bees unless almost all the blossoms have fallen from the trees.
R.S.O. 1990, c. B.6, s. 18.
Value of Pollination to Apple
Production
• No insect pollinators: no apples
• $65 Million Ontario crop value 2005
• Add honey bees to orchards
– 700% return on investment
– Larger, better formed, high value apples
– Juicers = lo$$e$Versus
R & D Needs for Pollination in
Fruit Production
• R & D needs
– Pollination needs (crosses between cultivars)
– Pollinator behaviour
– Orchard design
– Pollinator diversification
– Wild pollinators
Pollination needs: Breeding System
•Apples are self-
incompatible between
cultivars
• Within cultivars, cross
pollination does NOT
result in fruit setMcIntosh pollen
G. Delicious
Idared, Spy,
etc.
McIntosh flower
Pollinator Behaviour: Pollen Pick-up &
Delivery
Stigma touch/ Pollen collected ++++ Stigma touch/ Nectar
collected +++
Stigma missed/ Nectar collected +/-
Stigma missed/
Anthers missed - -
Floral Form &
Bee Behaviour
Mutsu – large gaps between filaments: bees can work from petals
Jona Gold – filaments tight together: bees have to work from top
Empire – filaments with small gaps
Pollination neighbourhood
Most pollen comes from within 20m of each tree
20m
Orchard Design: Gene Movement
Mixed pollens on one
flower: better fruit-
set
Some cultivars have
“stud-pollen”; others
have “wimp-pollen”
Pollinator Diversification
• Blue orchard bees
• Horn-faced bees
Wild Pollinators
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages
Canadian Stories – Alfalfa
• Alfalfa in the Canadian West
• F.W.L. Sladen (1918) advocated
Megachile spp. for pollination
• To the 1940s, system seemed
effective (Salt 1940)
• High productivity of alfalfa
seed leads to expansion
of fields
• By 1950s, problems!
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories - Alfalfa
• Huge alfalfa fields, no Megachile
nesting habitat, except around edges
• Seed Yields drop:
1000 to 15 kg/ha
(Stephen 1955)
• Solution
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories - Alfalfa
• Alfalfa leafcutting
bee husbandry
• G. Hobbs,
Lethbridge, AB (perfected by mid 1960s)
Gordon Hobbs
Value of Leafcutter Bee
Industry in Canada
• 50,000 bees per ha = over 2.0 Billion
bee population in SK alone (75% of
Canada’s alfalfa seed production)
• 13.5 Million kg seed/yr = $40 Million
$25 Million/yr in exports
• Bees = 30+% of seed value
= $15 - 20 Million
Lowbush Blueberries
• Maritimes & Quebec
• Canadian production
– 300 Million kg/yr
• Exports = $323 Million
• Must be pollinated by bees
– Buzz pollination
– Wild bees (70+ species)
– Honeybees
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:Canadian Stories – Blueberries & the Forest
Problem: pesticides
Blueberry Pie Ecosystem
& Pesticides
– Before Fenitrothion
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:Canadian Stories – Blueberries & the Forest
• Blueberry Pie
Ecosystem & Pesticides
– During Fenitrothion
• This example: New
Brunswick
• Other similar examples:
Quebec, Ontario
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:Canadian Stories – Blueberries & the Forest
New Brunswick’s Blueberries, Bees, and Pesticides
Crop loss ≈ 0.7 million kg/year !
Fenitrothion
• Solutions
– Litigation
– Restraining orders
– More science
• Other pesticides
• Other pollinators
• Other plants
• Other places
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:Canadian Stories – Blueberries & the Forest
Disrupted ecosystem
function
Reduced pollinator
diversity and abundance
Reduced fruit / seed set
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – The Forest
• Solution
– Tighter control on forest pesticide use
– More emphasis on biocontrol
– Recognition of pollinators in forest
ecosystem function
New Brunswick blueberry story was the start of a major trend in
pollinator conservation worldwide
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:Canadian Stories – Greenhouse Tomatoes
• Still air
• Hand pollination
– Labour costs $$$
– Reliability
– Timing
• Solution
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:Canadian Stories – Greenhouse Tomatoes
• Bumblebee cultureMB Plowright & Jay 1966ON Kevan et al. 1991
BC Dogterom 1998
ON Morandin et al. 2001- 2
BC Winston team 2003-4
Value of Greenhouse Tomato
Production• 736 Acres in Ontario (75% of Canadian production)
• $290 Million/year
• Bumblebees @ 2 colonies/acre/month for 10 months
– 20 colonies @ $200 each/acre/year
– $3.7 Million/year in Canada
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – Honeybees
• Beekeeping in Canada
• First records: Quebec, 1820s; Ontario, 1830s
• Industrial growth for honey and other hive products
• 1891 = 145,000 colonies for 3.4 million lbs of honey in Ontario
• Problems
– Pesticides
– Diseases
– Parasites
• Solutions
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – Honeybees
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – Honeybees
• Pesticides
– legislation, product labeling, use reduction
• Diseases
– sanitation (Foul Brood Act 1889, 1906)
– bee breeding for resistance
• Parasites
– Border closures banning import problems
Pollination & Pollinator Shortages:
Canadian Stories – Honeybees
• Bee breeding
programs
(incl. Instrumental
insemination)
Selection for overwintering & honey production
Resistance to tracheal mites (Nasr, 1980 on)
Resistance to Varroa mites (Nasr & Wilson 1990s)
Research centres:
AAFC (Beaverlodge AB); U of Guelph; U Manitoba; Simon Fraser U.
Honeybee Problems
• Colony losses in most of Canada
– Overwintering losses: up to & over 30% of
colonies/year
– Cost = $5+ Million/year to the industry
• Costs of Pest, Parasite & Disease
management rising
• Pollination demands rising
Crying need for R & D!
Value of Honeybees for
Crop Pollination
• Est. value = $1.3 to $1.7 Billion annually
in Canada
– 300,000 colonies for hybrid canola seed
– 35,000 colonies for blueberries
– 15,000 colonies for fruit trees
– @ average $120/ colony = $42 Million in
hive rentals/year
• Honey = $110 Million/year (28 Million kg)
Pollination costs!
Not pocket change
Commodity Value (Annual) Bee value (annual)
Apples >$100 Million
Alfalfa seed >$40 Million $15 – 20 Million (LCbees)
Blueberries $400 Million
Greenhouse Tomatoes $290 Million $3.7 Million (bumblebees)
Honey $110 Million $42 Million (hive rentals)
Just to mention a few, major crops!
What about Pollinator Shortages &
Economic Impacts ?
Insect pollination has an
estimated worth for food
and fibre production of
$217 Billion/year globally
Value of beekeeping
in Canada:
Pollinator shortage =
crop reductions =
higher price of
production =
consumer pays … but… if prices set internationally, Canadian farmer pays
Economics of Pollination Shortfalls
Initiatives on Pollination &
Pollinator Shortages:Canada at the Forefront
• NRCanada (1981) Pesticide Pollinator Interactions
• AgCanada (1989) National Workshop, Winnipeg
• ESC (1997) Pollinators & Mother Earth
• Canadian participation in International & US meetings (1992, 1995-1999, 1998-2006 )
• Review of Canadian Legislation (Thomas)
• US NRC (2007) Status of Pollinators in North America
Recent Global & International Initiatives
• Forgotten Pollinators 1995 – 1999
• CBD from São Paulo Declaration on Pollinators 1999
• NAPPC 2000 annually
• UN-FAO Internat. Pollinator Initiative 2001
• African PI 2002 –
• US National Academy of Sciences “The Status of Pollinators in North America” 2006-7
• CPPI 2007 –
Recent Canadian Initiatives
• CPPI – January, 2007 in Ottawa
• CANPOLIN –
NSERC Strategic Network Proposal:
submitted February 2008 ($5 million)
• City of Guelph Pollination Park 7 March 2008
• CPPI – Urban pollination, 8 March 2008
• National Wildlife Week, 30 April 2008
• Pollinator Conservation in Practice, 13 Nov. 2009
Funded Oct. 2008!
NSERC-CANPOLIN: Facets
• Wild pollinator diversity
• Managed pollinator health & sustainability
• Plant reproductive needs
– Insect pollination & wind pollination
• Ecosystem function, complexity & conservation
• Predictions
– Climate & land-use changes
– Economics & Policy issues
Assembling the CANPOLIN Players
• Laurence Packer & Peter Kevan hatch the idea
• Listing of Players
– Known colleagues
– Literature records to fill out the list
• Contacting the Players
• Inclusive policy of Invitation to join
– Very few opted out
• Active invitees became leader
– No one was excluded
A true
Network
not a hub,
spokes
and rim
Proposal Woes & Whoopee
• Pre-proposal 1 to NSERC (2004): Thanks but no thanks!
• Pre-proposal 2 to NSERC (2005): Program suspended
• Pre-proposal 3 to NSERC (2006): Thanks but no thanks; Economic$ & Policy not NSERC’s mandate:
But a little birdy told us …
• Pre-proposal 4 to NSERC (2007): Thanks, and a Full proposal requested ($25,000 to prepare) and include Economic$! Victoria MacPhail hired!
• Full Proposal submitted before deadline online
• Site Visit (July 2008): Experts from Canada, U.S.A., France!
Proposal Wishes & Whoopee
• Site Visit
– If we build it, they will come
– Positive responses all round
• October 2008! GREAT NEWS!
Kevan, Packer et al.
50 + Scientists at 26 Institutions
Continuing Canada’s legacy in
pollination R & D
Serving Canadian Agriculture,
Forestry & Conservation
$5 Very Large over 5 years
Thank you!
• I am most grateful to the Canadian Club of Halton-Peel for inviting me to this exciting event and “To share and promote NSERC-CANPOLIN’s passion for Canada"
• I am sure that I speak for all members of NSERC-CANPOLIN, academic, government, industry, and NGOs across Canada in expressing our collective thanks as well
• Please join us in support of our pollinators and the plants they pollinate:
www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin