S15 - Session P1 - Native bee species with buzz-behavior can achieve high-performance pollination of highbush blueberry crops of Chile

Authors: Jose Neiva Mesquita Neto *, Benito Cortés Rivas, Cecilia Smith-Ramirez, Víctor Hugo Monzón

Sonication or buzz-pollination is a phenomenon by which a floral visitor vibrates flowers to extract pollen efficiently. Buzz-pollination can also raise the reproductive success of native and cultivated plants. Many groups of bees can sonicate, but the quality of the pollination service provided varies among species. Blueberry is one of the most relevant buzz-pollinated crops worldwide and Chile is the most important global producer of fresh blueberries during wintertime in the Northern Hemisphere. Thousands of exotic Bombus terrestris are imported from Europe to pollinate blueberries in Chile. However, there have been no studies evidencing the performance of native Chilean fauna to pollinate blueberry nor other crops . Therefore, we aimed to compare the performance of native Chilean floral visitors with managed visitors to pollinate and increase fruit yield of highbush blueberry. Per-visit pollination performance (stigmatic pollen deposition, fruit set, and fruit quality) and visit frequency were measured and the presence of buzz-behavior of flower visitors evaluated in four cultivars of two blueberry orchards located in southern Chile. Floral visits accomplished by buzz-behavior deposited more conspecific pollen on stigmas and set more seeds than visits without this behavior. Some native buzzing-bees, especially Cadeguala occidentalis , were efficient pollen vectors of blueberry and better pollinators than the Apis mellifera . Pollination by C. occidentalis was similar to that by the managed bee B. terrestris in terms of fruit quality (size and weight) and seed set and it deposited 5.8 times more pollen tetrads than A . mellifera . The results indicate that native pollinators can provide pollination service to highbush blueberry crops in Chile. Instead of continuing to rent or pay for managed beehives, which represent a cost for farmers and a threat to local biodiversity, consideration should be given to the service provided by native pollinators with priority given to the subset of most successful pollinators.