BIOL 1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Colony Collapse Disorder, Bee Hives, Western Honey Bee
18 Jun 2017
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All vine crops (cucurbitaceae) depend on insects for pollination and subsequent fruit set. Each female blossom must be visited 15-20 times for adequate pollination. Native pollinators may be sufficient for small plantings. The blossoms of all california almond varieties are self-incompatible, requiring cross-pollination with other varieties to produce a crop. The single most important factor determining a good yield is pollination during the bloom period. More than a million colonies of honey bees are placed in california almond orchards at the beginning of the bloom period to pollinate the crop (2 per acre). Colonies are brought in from across the country. They die after mating and are expelled from the hive before winter: a hive consists of 20,000 to 30,000 bees in the winter and 60,000 to 80,000 bees in the summer. They need sufficient stores of pollen and honey to survive.
