Agriculture

blueberries

Beneficial and invasive pest insects in the wild blueberry agroecosystem

The spotted wing drosophila (SWD) has created an emergency approach to insect pest control that is reactive and not necessarily a least-toxic strategy. This research should result in a better monitoring procedure for the adult flies, an action threshold, and better knowledge of SWD trivial movement within and between blueberry fields and least toxic strategies […]

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honey bee on blueberry flowers

Sustainable solutions to problems affecting bee health

Pollination is critical to one of Maine’s most important crops, wild blueberry. Almost 80,000 honey bee colonies are brought into Maine each year for pollination. In addition to honey bees, native bees are extremely important to pollination of wild blueberry. Almost 30% of wild blueberry flowers are pollinated by native bees. Because of the importance […]

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