Bumble bees: their biology, culture and management for pollination.

This chapter provides information on the biology, conservation, rearing, and managing bumble bees (Bombus sp.) for pollination. Bumble bees today occupy a niche in agricultural pollination similar to that of honeybees - each occurs as highly managed cultured colonies and as wild colonies in the field. Bumble bees are distinctive, however, for their pre-eminence as pollinators in the greenhouse environment.

What makes a good pollinator?

This chapter discusses pollinator efficiency; pollination performance (from the perspective of the bee); pollinator dependency (from the perspective of the plant), including topics on breeding systems, as well as flower and fruit morphology; and pollinator performance (from the perspective of foraging ecology), including the taxon-based differences in bee flight distance, morphological considerations, and forager behaviour in rich and poor habitats.

Honeybees: their biology, culture and management for pollination.

This chapter provides information on bee colony and beekeeper demographics, honey bee biology, honey bees as pollinators, simplified beekeeping for pollination and managing honey bees for pollination.

Biology of bees.

This chapter discusses the bee fundamentals, including their taxonomy, diets, adaptations for plant foraging and biological development. It also compares solitary and social bees. Pollinator efficacy and effects of non-native bee species on native bees are also discussed.

Angiosperms and bees: the evolutionary bases of crop pollination.

This chapter focuses on the relationship between bees and flowering plants or the angiosperms that make up modern crop plants that depend on bee pollination.

State of the world's bee pollinators and the consequences for crop pollination.

This chapter focuses on the various abiotic and biotic factors adversely affecting bee populations and the impacts of bee population decline on plant pollination. Various models prediction bee population declines are presented and some ways to mitigate these declines are highlighted.

Managed solitary bees.

Manageability is not the monopoly of the social honeybees and bumble bees, however conspicuously high these bees rate in charisma and public appreciation. The solitary bees field at least as many manageable species, some systems for which are highly intensified and fully integrated into commercial scale crop production. This chapter covers three of the most economically important of these taxa - the alfalfa leafcutting bees, alkali bees and orchard mason bees. Information is provided on the biology, role as pollinators, rearing and managing of these bees.

Wild bees.

This chapter provides evidence for the pre-eminence of wild bees as agriculture's premier pollinators. Drivers of wild bee abundance and pollination performance in crops are also discussed.

Stingless bees, tribe Meliponini.

This chapter provides information on morphological characteristics, nest composition, biological development, reproduction, crop pollination, and meliponiculture of stingless bees.

Economic and ecosystem benefits of bee pollination.

This chapter describes the worldwide production trends for bee-pollinated crops and the quality properties distinctive to bee-pollinated crops. It also discusses the value of optimizing pollination in bee-pollinated crops and the efforts of valuing bee pollination across geographic scales. Other ecosystem services provided by bees are highlighted.