Wild Pollinators of Haskap in Nova Scotia: Community Structure and Conservation to maximize pollination

The proposed research will examine pollination in Haskap, an emerging agricultural commodity that is ideallysuited for Nova Scotia's Maritime climate and is being touted as a 'super food'. Haskap is self-incompatible andrequires pollination by bees to produce viable fruit, but there are concerns that current stocks of honey bees inNova Scotia are insufficient to meet demand for the numerous pollinator-dependent crops in the region, andthat honey bees may not be ideal pollinators for Haskap. At the same time there is surging interest inconserving wild pollinator populations - both locally and globally - and exploring ecological techniques toboost pollinator communities, particularly in or around managed agricultural landscapes where wild bees mayprovide a "free" pollination service to growers. This research will be conducted on three haskap farms nearBlockhouse NS, in partnership with LaHave Forests, an award-winning Haskap grower group based in MahoneBay. The research will address three questions requested by LaHave: (1) What is the wild bee communitystructure in Haskap in Nova Scotia?; (2) What bees are the most efficient pollinators of Haskap?; and (3) Canartificial nests attract cavity-nesting bees around Haskap? LaHave believes that increased knowledge of thepollinators in their fields, their relative contributions to pollination, and examination of techniques to boostwild bee populations, will improve their crop yields and profits while adhering to their core values ofagricultural sustainability. Answering these questions will also be valuable to Nova Scotia's and Canada'sgrowing Haskap industry, and to pollinator conservation objectives that are of importance nationally andglobally.