Crop Pollination with Native Bees

Australian farmers rely heavily on the introduced commercial bee, Apis mellifera, to pollinate their crops. However, we have over 1,500 species of native bees in Australia and for some crops our native bees may be better pollinators.

Stingless bees are proven successful pollinators of mangos (left), macadamias and watermelons. Stingless bees may also benefit strawberries, citrus fruit and avocados.

Australia has about ten species of stingless social native bees (genera Trigona and Austroplebeia). Stingless bees have been shown to be valuable pollinators of crops such as macadamias, mangos, watermelons and lychees. They may also benefit strawberries, citrus, avocados and many others.

Commercial pollination services with Australian stingless bees are already available and have produced impressive results particularly with macadamia and watermelon crops. Leading Australian suppliers of stingless bees for crop pollination include:

-- Tom Carter, Rockhampton, Qld, Ph: 07 4922 1808

-- Mark Grosskopf, Australian Native Bee Crop Pollination, Maryvale, Qld, Ph: 0438 623 734

-- Frank Adcock, Bangalow, NSW, Ph: 02 6629 1431

Early studies at the University of Western Sydney (see Aussie Bee Issue 10) demonstrated the excellent ability of stingless bees to work in confined areas such as glasshouses. Now Mark Greco of the University of Western Sydney is investigating the use of stingless bees for greenhouse capsicum pollination (read about Mark's amazing hive scanning method in Aussie Bee Online Article 7).

Research into the use of stingless bees for crop pollination in Australia is still under development but these bees show great potential! For more information see the ANBRC booklet, Crop Pollination with Australian Stingless Bees.

Carpenter bees, teddy bear bees and blue banded bees can "buzz pollinate" tomatoes, kiwifruit and eggplants.

Other types of Australian native bees can also be great crop pollinators. Our native blue banded bees, teddy bear bees and carpenter bees can perform a special type of pollination called buzz pollination (see Aussie Bee Issue 11 and Issue 12). This could make them ideal pollinators of crops such as tomatoes, kiwi fruit, eggplants, blueberries, cranberries and chilli peppers. The commercial honey bee, Apis mellifera, cannot perform buzz pollination.

Research is well underway on how to use blue banded bees for commercial greenhouse tomato pollination. A three year research project at the University of Adelaide has already discovered how to breed these native bees year-round in large numbers and has demonstrated their effectiveness as greenhouse tomato pollinators. Read Katja's report on the current status of this blue banded bee research.

Using native blue banded bees for greenhouse tomato pollination is a much better option than introducing European bumblebees for this purpose.

Keep up to date with the latest research results with Aussie Bee Online! For example, Article 9 of Aussie Bee Online explains Melissa Bell's ground breaking study at the University of Western Sydney showing that blue banded bees are efficient glasshouse tomato pollinators; and in Article 8, Les Dollin explains how to make your own nest blocks to support the blue banded bees in your garden.