Defining Bee Pollinator Community Composition Found in Tennessee Soybean

Pollination is one of the most fantastic natural phenomenons on our planet. Bee pollinators serve many functions and provide many services in ecosystems throughout the world. It is estimated that 35% of the world’s food crop production depends on bee pollination. Pollinators have been in decline due to various issues including parasites, loss of habitat, food sources and diversity of food sources, pesticide use, and transportation advancements harboring invasive pressures. As the human population grows, acreage of agricultural lands, input management practices, and crop yields will be forced to adapt to this larger demand. Maintaining the ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes provided by bee pollinators by actively incorporating conservational practices will be necessary as additional land is converted for agronomic use. Although soybean flowers are predominantly cleistogamous, there is evidence showing that wild bees and particularly managed honey bees systematically utilize the mass flowering crop as an important source of pollen and nectar in agricultural landscapes.There is a lack of information available on the soybean pollinator community, information that could be used for conservational management practices. By assessing this pollinator community composition in Tennessee and identifying the phenological diversity of this community, we can better understand the role or potential role that soybean could play in providing nutrition to pollinators such as the honey bee.