Review: Protecting Pollinator Session

Thursday, 20 February 2025

Last week the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture (ATTTA), in partnership with the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture (NSDA) and the Resilient Agriculture Landscape Program (RALP) hosted a session on protecting pollinators from environmental stressors in Masstown, NS (with a virtual option to join). To learn more about this important event read this week’s blog.

Review: Protecting Pollinator Session

The ATTTA team is involved in an ongoing initiative to educate and support beekeepers and blueberry growers to protect both managed and wild pollinators from environmental stressors, and to provide suitable habitat for pollinators. Last year, ATTTA published a guide on protecting pollinators from pesticides on wild blueberry fields (https://www.perennia.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/P2C_WildBlueberry_Guide_ENG-FINAL.pdf). It was agreed that publishing this guide would be the starting point for a series of industry education opportunities around protecting both managed and wild pollinators. To meet this initiative, ATTTA worked with the NSDA to organize this event that occurred last week in Nova Scotia. The session was well attended with approximately 30 in-person industry representatives and an additional 60 participants online.

The event consisted of two excellent guest speakers. Professor Nigel Raine (Rebanks Family Chair in Pollinator Conservation, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph) is a global leader in the fields of behaviour ecology and conservation of pollinators, and has spent most of the last decade working on the impacts of environmental stressors (such as pesticide exposure) on wild bees. His work combines internationally excellent research, and engagement with policymakers and other conservation stakeholder groups. 

Professor Nigel Raine (University of Guelph) presenting at the Protecting Pollinators session (2025).

Professor Raine discussed the global decline in insect biodiversity, which includes the decline of pollinating species. Currently, 4% of bees are at risk of extinction. The world is losing their biodiversity of pollinators due to the impacts of habitat loss, pathogens, pesticides, invasive species, climate change, and the interactions of these factors. Climate change is impacting the geographic range of pollinators, where with increasing temperatures various species are moving northward. Additionally, climate change is affecting the timing and range of flowering plants, which impacts the forage available to pollinators. Professor Raine discussed what society can do to help maintain the biodiversity and abundance of pollinators. For example, society can plant species of plants that will provide ground nests for wild bees and that will provide forage for pollinators. It is essential that humans work to protect pollinators for our own food security considering that 75% of major food crops depend on pollinators.

The second speaker of the session was Dr. Nancy McLean. Dr. McLean (Associate Professor and Assistant Dean, Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences) is trained in agronomy and plant genetics. She has worked at the Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture since 1986, and teaches several courses that cover her research interests of forage crop management, cover crops, and plant-pollinator interactions.

Dr. Nancy McLean (Dalhousie University) presenting at the protecting pollinators session (2025), and highlighting her recommendation for a pollinator seed mix.

Dr. McLean discussed plant-pollinator interactions. She explained how some bees are generalists (pollinating a variety of species) and some are specialists. Dr. McLean discussed buzz pollination, which is a technique used by some bees (ex. bumble bees) where the rapid vibrations of an insect’s wings causes the plant to release pollen. Mclean explained that pollen quality differs between various plant species. For bees, plants that produce pollen with greater that 20% crude protein are considered an excellent source of pollen. When considering what species to plant for pollinators it is important to consider the amount of protein available within the pollen, the amount and quality of nectar produced by the plant, and the bloom period of the plant. It is important that pollinators have forage available throughout the season, which requires a variety of plants with varying bloom periods. Dr. McLean has done considerable research on good seed mixes for pollinators, considering factors such as pollen and nectar quality, bloom period, cost, presence of weeds in farm land, and multi-purpose (riparian zones). Dr. McLean’s recommended seed mix consists of timothy, alsike clover, red clover, sweet clover, birdsfoot trefoil, and phacelia.

The event also consisted of a small tradeshow. There was representation from the Nova Scotia Beekeepers’ Association, Veseys Seeds, Halifax Seed Company, and Dalhousie Extended Learning. Executive members of the Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia were also in attendance. Thank you to all presenters, tradeshow representatives, industry representatives, and to all those who attended the event. We look forward to continuing the discussion and education on protecting pollinators.

Connecting with ATTTA Specialists

If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:

visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/

Email attta@perennia.ca