The laboratory has had a long interest in blueberry pollination. Most research hasbeen on lowbush blueberries, first in respect of insecticide sprays on forestsadjacent to blueberry heaths in New Brunswick (see Publications and list).Graduate student, Masa Usui studied pollinator assemblages in wild-land blueberries in northern Ontario (Chapleau Crown Game Preserve) and their importance in pollination and the health of black bears. With Carlos Greco, the importance of native bee and honeybee assemblages on commercially managedblueberry heaths has been examined in collaborative work with Dr. Leonard Eatonand Bragg Lumber Co. in Nova Scotia. A new project on highbush blueberriesseeks to understand the pollination requirements of different varieties grown inOntario, and to match those with floral form and orchard design.
The assemblage of pollinators as affected by pesticides in New Brunswick lacksthe log-normal relationship between abundance and diversity, present onunaffected control heaths (Kevan et al., 1997)
References
Kevan, P.G., C.F. Greco, and S. Belaoussoff. 1997. Log-normality of biodiversity and abundance in diagnosis and measuring of ecosystemic health: pesticide stress on pollinators on blueberry heaths. Journal of Applied Ecology 34:1122-1136
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