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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Bees Don't Like my Kiwis

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  • From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Bees Don't Like my Kiwis
  • Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:59:07 -0400

It might have something to do with a local population buildup among pollinators that like and/or can use kiwiflowers, and that benefit from the availability of kiwi flowers. It would look to us like "learning."

I draw an analogy with the custom among dairy farmers to change the diets of their cows gradually so that the species composition of their gut microorganisms on which they depend so heavily, has time to adjust.

It may also have something to do with a decrease in the number of species of pollinators in many places under modern conditions.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada


On 09/06/2011 1:36 PM, Alexander Brands wrote:


Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 19:52:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: John S<swim_at_svc@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Bees Don't Like my Kiwis
To: North American Fruit Explorers<nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>

Alan,

I had a conversation with a local berry grower that also does kiwis
a couple of years back.? He indicated it can take years for the
local pollinators to discover and get used to kiwi.

An interesting idea, but I'm skeptical. This would depend on
individuals (pollinators) living for several years, wouldn't it?

Perhaps another possibility along these lines would be that social
pollinators don't easily find it, but once one of them does, it tells
the others in the colony, ala the honeybee dance.....but this would
still depend on individuals living more than one season and
remembering where the kiwis are.

I'm not aware of bees doing this, but I'm no expert, and it wouldn't
be the first time someone underestimated the insects.

Alex




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