Sweet Success for Local Pollinators
At Bill Shields’ apple orchard in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, there’s almost as much focus on flowers as there is on fruit.
An abundance of plants in flower flourish between rows of trellis-trained apple trees and in surrounding garden beds. Depending on the season, these blooms range from the broad, bright yellow faces of sunflowers to delicate, blue, star-like inflorescences of borage plants.
This floral display is not just for show. It’s there to act as an enticing buffet for local pollinator communities, including the native stingless bee (Tetragonula carbonaria). “On our farm, there are lots of flowers, and even flowering weeds, so there’s always something around for pollinators,” Shields says.
Dozens of insect species visit his flowers, and around half carry pollen. He knows this because Shields Orchard, located just outside the town of Bilpin, New South Wales, was involved in a Western Sydney University-led project investigating the role of native pollinators in sustainable food production.
Around 75% of Australian crops benefit from pollination. Some — including most apple cultivars — can’t produce fruit without it. Most pollination is enabled by commercial hives and feral nests of the introduced European honeybee (Apis mellifera).
But overall, insect pollinators have declined worldwide in recent years, due to pesticide use, pathogen exposure, habitat destruction and climate change. Now, another major threat looms in Australia, a mite known as Varroa destructor.
The rapidly spreading parasite can wipe out honeybee colonies. Despite biosecurity controls, Varroa was detected near Newcastle in 2022, and in September 2023, the National Management Group, which coordinates the national Varroa mite response, declared that the species had established itself beyond the possibility of eradication.
Entomologist Professor James Cook, from Western’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, says farmers can no longer take honeybee pollination for granted.
And there’s plenty at stake: the Australian apple industry alone is worth more than half a billion dollars each year. In light of this, farmers and scientists are investigating whether native wild insects — which are not directly attacked by Varroa — might pick up some of the pollination slack.
An abundance of plants in flower flourish between rows of trellis-trained apple trees and in surrounding garden beds. Depending on the season, these blooms range from the broad, bright yellow faces of sunflowers to delicate, blue, star-like inflorescences of borage plants.
This floral display is not just for show. It’s there to act as an enticing buffet for local pollinator communities, including the native stingless bee (Tetragonula carbonaria). “On our farm, there are lots of flowers, and even flowering weeds, so there’s always something around for pollinators,” Shields says.
Dozens of insect species visit his flowers, and around half carry pollen. He knows this because Shields Orchard, located just outside the town of Bilpin, New South Wales, was involved in a Western Sydney University-led project investigating the role of native pollinators in sustainable food production.
Around 75% of Australian crops benefit from pollination. Some — including most apple cultivars — can’t produce fruit without it. Most pollination is enabled by commercial hives and feral nests of the introduced European honeybee (Apis mellifera).
But overall, insect pollinators have declined worldwide in recent years, due to pesticide use, pathogen exposure, habitat destruction and climate change. Now, another major threat looms in Australia, a mite known as Varroa destructor.
The rapidly spreading parasite can wipe out honeybee colonies. Despite biosecurity controls, Varroa was detected near Newcastle in 2022, and in September 2023, the National Management Group, which coordinates the national Varroa mite response, declared that the species had established itself beyond the possibility of eradication.
Entomologist Professor James Cook, from Western’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, says farmers can no longer take honeybee pollination for granted.
And there’s plenty at stake: the Australian apple industry alone is worth more than half a billion dollars each year. In light of this, farmers and scientists are investigating whether native wild insects — which are not directly attacked by Varroa — might pick up some of the pollination slack.
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