Habitat buzziness: How land cover shapes pollinator availability for blueberries

A sizable literature attempts to value the contributions of wild pollinators to crop production. The bulk of that literature has been conducted at macroscopic (national and international) scales and oriented toward demonstrating that those services have significant value. From a practical policy perspective, analyses at these levels of aggregation are of limited use for setting priorities at more localized scales. A few other studies have used standard economic methods to value welfare losses from reductions in pollination services for special cases. Work to date is hyper localized, involves intensive collection of new field-level data, and imposes restrictive economic conditions. To overcome these challenges, we are developing analytical methods to provide guidance on when farmers should set aside land for wild pollinators or use managed bees. These methods are firmly grounded in economic and ecological theory, and utilize widely available data at scales appropriate for setting landscape management priorities. One critical piece of information for achieving this is understanding how pollinator habitat in the surrounding landscape affects pollination services provided to blueberry production. Here we present a characterization of the landscape around blueberry fields, with emphasis on how landscape varies across the US and over time. We additionally present a synthesis of research on how landscape alters bee visitation to crop fields and blueberry production.