Entomology Graduate Student Receives Sustainable Agriculture Grant

Amber Tripodi, a doctoral student in entomology, received a U.S. Department of Agriculture Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Graduate Student Grant. The $9,000 grant will evaluate the utility of adding artificial bumble bee nesting sites to increase pollination services in a small farm environment.

With recent honey bee declines impacting managed pollination services, the vulnerability of American agriculture under the dominance of the honey bee has become increasingly apparent in recent years. Wild populations of native bumble bees freely provide indispensable pollination services that have been shown to surpass those of honey bees in many crops.

This project aims to determine if providing artificial bumble bee nesting sites will increase the abundance or alter the diversity of bumble bees on small-scale farms in Arkansas. It also aims to determine the relationship between crop bloom times and bumble bee phenology in Arkansas. The results of this research should provide recommendations to farmers seeking to improve fruit set utilizing native bumble bee pollinators.