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Q&A ViewAttendees 4

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad P-IE: Education and Extension

It's the Great Pumpkin: Pollinators of Virginia

Monday, November 1, 2021
11:42 AM - 11:54 AM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 207
In-Person Student Competition

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Courtney M. Walls

    Master's Student
    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
    Blacksburg, Virginia

    • Co-Author(s)

  • JW

    James Wilson

    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
    Blacksburg, Virginia

  • Thomas P. Kuhar

    Professor
    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
    Blacksburg, Virginia

  • TR

    T'ai Roulston

    University of Virginia
    Boyce, Virginia

Virginia is 6th in pumpkin production nationwide and brings in $17 million to the Virginia economy annually. Pumpkin production relies on insect pollination provided by bees while using integrated pest management tactics to control pumpkin pests. With such a valuable cropping system, informing growers of the pollinators present in their fields and providing knowledge on how to encourage pollinator sustainability in this pollination dependent system, could have great value. We observed 7 pumpkin sites across Virginia on a variety of farm sizes and surrounding landscapes during the 2021 field seasons. Each site was observed twice during peak flowering using visual observations of bees who contacted pumpkin flower reproductive structures. Bees were classified into 9 morpho-taxa categories: squash bee, honey bee, bumble bee, small black bee, large black bee, small striped bee, large striped bee, green bee, and other bee. Representative samples of each observed morphotaxa were collected and identified in the lab. The most abundant morphotaxa seen in our field sites were squash bee (Eucera (Peponapis) pruinosa Say) followed by bumble bees (Bombus sp.). These two taxa represented 98% of all collected data (n=3078), while both taxa are considered unmanaged bees, Bombus impatiens can be introduced into crop fields. Compared to previous work, our observations will help to update the known impact of specific bee taxa on Virginia pumpkin production. Updating Virginia pumpkin growers on what pollinators help them produce their pumpkins may in turn, help them to reduce pollinator related risk and update their IPM strategies.