PhD Oral Defence: Bee diversity, pollination and fruit production in strawberry agroecosystems

PhD Oral Defence of Gail MacInnis, Natural Resource Sciences - Entomology

As agricultural intensification continues, it is vital to understand how biodiversity loss in farmlands affects the ecosystem functions required to maintain crop production. High species richness within crop pollinator assemblages has been linked to enhanced crop yields, but direct comparisons of pollinator performance among individual bee species have been limited by methodological constraints. The overarching goals of my thesis were to explore the direct influence of bee diversity and community composition on pollination and fruit production in strawberry agroecosystems, and to examine how elements of agricultural landscapes impact the structure of crop bee communities.

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