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Alfalfa Pollination in Russia E-mail Correspondence with Konstantin Artohin
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| photo by K. Artohin
Table of Contents Aug. 5, 2000 Aug. 7, 2000 Aug. 10, 2000 Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don Table 2: Dominant bee pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region Table 3: Effectiveness of alfalfa pollination by the main solitary bees in Rostov-on-Don Table 4: Potential alfalfa yield from pollinators in Rostov-on-Don
Table of Contents Aug. 5, 2000 Aug. 7, 2000 Aug. 10, 2000 Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don Table 2: Dominant bee pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region Table 3: Effectiveness of alfalfa pollination by the main solitary bees in Rostov-on-Don Table 4: Potential alfalfa yield from pollinators in Rostov-on-Don
Table of Contents Aug. 5, 2000 Aug. 7, 2000 Aug. 10, 2000 Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don Table 2: Dominant bee pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region Table 3: Effectiveness of alfalfa pollination by the main solitary bees in Rostov-on-Don Table 4: Potential alfalfa yield from pollinators in Rostov-on-Don
Table of Contents Aug. 5, 2000 Aug. 7, 2000 Aug. 10, 2000 Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don Table 2: Dominant bee pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region Table 3: Effectiveness of alfalfa pollination by the main solitary bees in Rostov-on-Don Table 4: Potential alfalfa yield from pollinators in Rostov-on-Don
Table of Contents Aug. 5, 2000 Aug. 7, 2000 Aug. 10, 2000 Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don Table 2: Dominant bee pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region Table 3: Effectiveness of alfalfa pollination by the main solitary bees in Rostov-on-Don Table 4: Potential alfalfa yield from pollinators in Rostov-on-Don
Table of Contents Aug. 5, 2000 Aug. 7, 2000 Aug. 10, 2000 Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don Table 2: Dominant bee pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region Table 3: Effectiveness of alfalfa pollination by the main solitary bees in Rostov-on-Don Table 4: Potential alfalfa yield from pollinators in Rostov-on-Don
Table of Contents Aug. 5, 2000 Aug. 7, 2000 Aug. 10, 2000 Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don Table 2: Dominant bee pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region Table 3: Effectiveness of alfalfa pollination by the main solitary bees in Rostov-on-Don Table 4: Potential alfalfa yield from pollinators in Rostov-on-Don |
From: Konstantin Artohin It was a pleasure for me to read the clear results of your quality investigations! Surely, the main hypothesis of my scientific work differs from yours. I investigated the pollinators and pests simultaneously, as two main complexes of insects, which manage the seeds output. So, my point of view on alfalfa seeds growing inspires some questions to you. 1. There is no place for solitary soil bees in your model. It looks like there are no other bees, except the introduced M. rotundata to alfalfa field. Why? In Russia there are 30-40 species of solitary soil bee species on each field and their populations densities are usually rather high. In the times of my investigations of M. rotundata I had determined, first of all, the density of the solitary soil bees on alfalfa field. And then, I generated the decision for needed density of M. rotundata for introduction to the field. But, in many cases, there was no need for M. rotundata, because the high density of the solitary soil bees guaranteed the complete pollination of alfalfa flowers. So, if extra density of M. rotundata is a bad factor for the bee yield (according your model), then natural bee populations must be involved into such models! 2. Does anybody in the USA investigate the fauna of solitary soil bees in agrocenoses with alfalfa? I sent e-mails to Dr.J.Cane, Dr.B.Stephen, Dr.D.Mayer, but have no answers. And, as far as I understood from your previous e-mail, these scientists investigate Nomia species only. But, what about estimation of the role in pollination of complete pollinators complex? Or this is not actual for USA? 3. With some surprise I accepted the exchange term: "tradeoff", concerning seed yield and bee yield. I translated it for myself as: "balance". May be, I did not completely catch the meaning? -----Original Message----- From: Karen Strickler Hello Dr. Artohin. Thank you for your excellent questions. Here are some answers for you, to the best of my ability to answer them. > 1. There is no place for solitary soil bees in your model. It looks like there are no other bees, except the introduced M. rotundata to alfalfa field. Why? In Russia there are 30-40 species of solitary soil bee species on each field and their populations densities are usually rather high. > Publications on alfalfa seed production in the USA from the 1930s and 1940s also describe numerous solitary bee species foraging in alfalfa fields, just as they still do in eastern Europe. I have heard Dr. P. Benedek from Hungary speak of large populations of solitary bees in fields in his country as well. Do you know him and his work? Unfortunately, "modern" management practices seem to have eliminated bees other than managed species (M. rotundata, Nomia melanderi and Apis mellifera) from our fields. There are probably many reasons, including increased pesticide use and increased cultivation. Most seed growers have 3 year contracts with seed companies; after 3 years they plow the field and plant something else. This doesn't give much time for solitary ground nesting bees to establish themselves. They also do some cultivating with a triple K or other equipment in the spring to keep down weeds and to thin the alfalfa if it is too dense. This probably also damages bee nests if there are any in the field. When Nomia melanderi is used for pollination, their nesting beds are in bare ground adjacent to the fields, not in the field. The incredibly high M. rotundata populations in most grower's fields are another reason why there are no solitary bees. When M. rotundata is very abundant (~100,000 bees per ha), they trip the flowers so fast that no other bee species can find enough flowers to get established. Dan Mayer has done some work that shows this. It will be published in a book that Jim Cane and I are editing, based on a symposium about crop pollination in 1998. Strickler and Freitas (1999) also has some evidence that honeybees disappear from the fields when M. rotundata populations are at their peak. We still see an occasional bumblebee, Agapostemon or Lassioglossum foraging on alfalfa flowers, and there must be other ground nesting Megachile species as well, but they are rare. Even if growers were to stop putting M. rotundata into their fields, I think these other bee species might not build up their populations to levels that our growers consider adequate for pollination. Most of the alfalfa seed growing areas of the Northwestern US are dry sagebrush desert habitat, with very little in bloom in mid summer. Thus natural bee populations are low in this area as well. Only where people irrigate and plant flowers do we find bees. > So, if extra density of M.rotundata is a bad factor for the bee yield (according to your model), then natural bee populations must be involved into such models! > My model did not include other bee species because there are so few of them. This made it easier to model alfalfa pollination in our area. But to be applicable to management in your area, other bee species would have to be included. This could be done in theory by determining how abundant each species is, and how many flowers must be tripped by each species to make a single offspring. There would be a "bee component" of the model for each species of bee. But I suspect one very big difference between seed production in the USA and in your area is the seed yields, and the time that it takes to pollinate the fields. Growers who use high bee numbers in our area get most of the pollination accomplished in 3 - 4 weeks; sometimes less. Seed yields over 1,000 kg per ha are common, and they can be as high as 2,000 kg. per ha. Average yields are more like 750 kg. per ha. What are the average yields in your area? In Canada the average yields are much lower, partly because the season is shorter, and partly because growers there put fewer bees in their fields so that they will have excess bees to sell. There, seed yields average about 340 kg per ha, and they do not harvest seed the first year that alfalfa is planted because there is not enough of a crop. In our area, most growers can get a crop of seed the first year that alfalfa is grown, though it is a smaller yield. In California, most growers use honeybees for pollination. They grow non-dormant varieties of alfalfa that do not grow well in cold climates, and these varieties seem to trip more readily when honeybees visit than do the dormant alfalfa varieties that are planted in the northwest USA and Canada. Still, it takes more weeks of bloom to get high seed yields in California. Mild weather there allows a shorter season. Similarly, a consultant to alfalfa seed growers in Australia visited me this summer. They also use honeybees for pollination in Australia, and fields take much longer to pollinate for high yields. > 2. Does anybody in the USA investigated the fauna of solitary soil bees in agrocenoses with alfalfa? …scientists investigated Nomia species only. But, what about estimation of the role in pollination of complete pollinators complex? Or this is not actual for USA?> Because there are so few other bee species in our alfalfa fields, no one that I know is studying them in the USA. Dr. Benedek is one person who is doing these studies elsewhere. Another person you may want to contact is Dr. Soliman Kamel from Egypt who is studying some of the Megachilids that nest in tunnels in wood and clay building materials near alfalfa fields in Egypt. > 3. With some surprise I accepted the exchange term: "tradeoff", concerning seed yield and bee yield. I translated it for myself as: "balance". Maybe, I did not completely catch the meaning? > Balance is what you have to do when there are tradeoffs, or better yet, find the "optimum". My dictionary defines tradeoff as "an exchange of one thing in return for another, especially a giving up of something desirable, as a benefit or advantage, for another regarded as more desirable." So, in alfalfa seed production, a tradeoff between high seed yields and high bee yields means that you can't maximize seed yields and maximize bee yields at the same time. One has to find a balance or an optimum. In our fields there has also been a tradeoff between rapid pollination and high bee diversity! I hope that I have been helpful to you. Karen Strickler From: Konstantin Artohin Now I understand better the situation with pollinators of alfalfa in the USA. Unhappy solitary soil bees! Actually, they became a victim of M. rotundata biological control agent! In our area already in 80's when the first M. rotundata project have begun, we were concerned by bee's parasitoids only. When I have got my own experience in the bee fauna researches on alfalfa fields, I also became an opponent of the non-grounded introduction of M. rotundata. My opinion is: there are enough of solitary bee populations in agrocenoses of Russia, even in the dry steppe area of the south-east of European part! As for alfalfa seed yields - they are really not so high, as in the USA - 200-300 kg/ha, in average. Not because of lack of pollinators, but because of pest damage about 70-80% of seeds and 50% of the rest is lost during the harvesting! We estimated many times the biological seed yield. At the Northern Caucasus it goes up to 2000 kg/ha - actually the same, as in the USA, but without M. rotundata introduction! In the Rostov-on-Don region, where I work with my team, the best seed growers are getting about 500-1000 kg/ga of alfalfa seeds, using very bad machinery! It is possible to get much greater yields, as solitary soil bees on alfalfa fields are busy only till midday, because of the lack of flowers. Surely, this is a selection problem: the short time intensive blossom period of alfalfa. Our selectionists work only with the forage properties of alfalfa. So, You understand now: why all my questions concerned the chemical pest control, not to damage pollinators. And now I guess very well how the present pollination situation developed in the USA. All growers are interested only in guaranteed high seed yield. They are getting a good working technology with introduced pollinators - M. rotundata (and others). And they are using it successfully, not worrying about natural pollinator fauna. In the same time the pollinators' reproduction is a specific kind of business. And every production needs a wide market and guaranteed demand. So, the bee producers are not interesting in limiting use of M. rotundata. If ever Russian agriculture will be developed so high as in the USA, we also could come to such situation. But I am sure, that the high seed yields one can get without M. rotundata introduction! And no need to make expenses to develop the aggressive M. rotundata production business itself! And I also want to add some thoughts. You are completely right, that cultivation of the soil and the crop changing on the fields make much damage to the solitary soil bees and their nests. But, according to my investigations the bee number on the new alfalfa fields restores very quickly. In our area there are enough unploughed plots, which represent a natural entomofauna reservation for wide territories. During the alfalfa field blossom the solitary bees are attracted from long distances up to 30-40 km around. And just this interesting bee's ability in our region could be the task for further investigations to include this factor into computer's simulating model. II. Actually I do not see the principal difference between the pests and the pollinators. I mean, that food (energy) is the basis of life for all insects. Where there is food, there are insects (pollinators or pests). Traditionally it was supposed that solitary bee species are settled insects and attached to one nesting place. Therefore all practical recommendations sounds like this: "one must sow alfalfa for seeds near by such nesting points" (in Russia this are the steppe ravines and non-tilled plots with bad soils or broken relief – in the steppe zone they are few). But our investigations shows that on such plots, which are suitable for bee’s nesting, there are practically no pollinators of alfalfa! Actually, almost all pollinators located near by the flowering agricultural plants: alfalfa, rape, mustard, sunflower and only during their blossom period. That is why it is not completely true, that the bees are attached to their nestling place and not correct at all to base on any such practical recommendations. As a matter of fact we are dealing with "nomad" populations of bees. As far as I understand this is a new ecological idea, which was not published yet. I suppose, that all local bee populations are migrating populations to those places where a lot of blooming plants are present. And presence (or not) of nesting conditions determines only the species collection on each field. If there are many stems, then there will be a lot of stem nestling bees, if not, then only soil bee species. Some unpublished data on bee pollinators of alfalfa in Russia.Table 1: List of Apoidea pollinators of alfalfa in Rostov-on-Don region (Russia).Fam. Colletidae Colletes marginatus Sm.Fam. Andrenidae Andrena wilkella Kby. Fam. Halictidae Halictus asperulus Per.H. ressleri Sm. H. maculatus Sm. H. malachurus Kby. H. simplex Bluthg. H. subauratus Rossi. H. eurygnathus Bluthg. H. rubicundus Christ. H. morbillosus Kriechb. H. calceatus Scop. H. albipes F. H. pauxillus Schck. H. brevicornis Schck. Sphecodes monilicornis Kby. Nomia divercipes Latr. N. Ruficornis Spin. Rhophitoides cannus Ev. Fam. Megachilidae Anthidium florenthinum F.Anthidiellum strigatum Latr. Hoplitis parvula Duf. & Perr. Osmia coerulescens L. Archimegachile flavipes Pz. Megachile argenata F. M. centuncularis L. M. maritima Kby. M. versicolor Sm. M. rotundata F. M. circumcinata Kby. M. ericetorum Lep. M. lagopoda L. Stelis breviuscula Nyl. Coelioxys afra Lep. C. obtusa Per. Fam. Anthophoridae Eucera clypeata Erichs.E. curvitarsis Mocs. E. nitidiventris Mocs. E. pollinosa Sm. E. interrupta Baer. Anthophora erschowi Fedt. A. radoszkowskgi Fedt. A. monacha Erichs. Nomada fucata Pz. N. cinnabarina F.Mor. N. flavopicta Kby. N. zonata Pz. Ammobatoides abdominalis Ev. Tetralonia tricincta Ev. Amegilla magnilabris Fedt. A. quadrifasciata Vill. Fam. Melittidae Melitta leporina Pz.Fam. Apidae Bombus silvarum L.B. terrestris L. Apis mellifera L. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most of these species are not abundant and have no practical importance. Moreover, some of them are the cuckoo-bees. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
("Azov" - Name of a town in the Rostov region, "chimia" - chemistry):
TERRA-technology (Rostov-on-Don
region, Russia) produces alfalfa seed for foreign consumers (outside Russia). They produce seeds adapted for Southern Russia, Europe or Asia,
according to clients' desire. The contact address:
Konstantin Artohin Rostov_Terra [rostov at terramos.ru] Konstantin Artohin (left) and photo from K. Artohin |
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Revised Jan. 23, 2001.
Copyright © 2000, Karen Strickler. All rights reserved.