Bees in the Service of Food Security: Challenging the Crisis
On April 20th 2015, a symposium regarding the importance of bees was organized by the Manna Center Program for Food Safety & Security, in partnership with Tel Aviv University Botanical Garden and the Porter School of Environmental Studies.
The symposium was divided into four sessions. During the first session, an overview of Bees and crop pollination from global and local perspectives was given. The bee specialist, Professor Peter Kevan from Guelph University in Canada, shared his knowledge about crop pollination by bees. Dr Arnon Dag from Volcani Center, ARO, continued speaking about the importance of managed bees for the Israeli agriculture.
During the second session, which dealt with The phenomenon of honeybee collapse, Dr. Victoria Soroker from Volcani Center, spoke about colony losses in Israel and worldwide. Prof. Sharoni Shafir from Hebrew University continued talking about the role of honeybee behavior in crop pollination.
The third session, "Walk on the Wild Side: Alternatives for Honeybee Pollination", covered an overview of the contribution of wild pollinators to crop pollination by Dr. Yael Mandelik from Hebrew University, an ecological profile of crop pollinators in Israel by Dr. Gidi Pisanty from Tel Aviv University and a presentation of the Effects of honey bees (Apis mellifera) on local plant and bee communities in the Israeli Rift Valley by Dr. Ariella Gotlib from the Volcani Center.
The last session was a Panel Discussion about Broad Spectrum of Pollination with Dr. Yael Mandelik (Hebrew University), Dr. Shimon Steinberg (BioBee), Dr. Arnon Dag (Volcani Center) and chaired by Prof. Peter Kevan (Guelph University)
To end the day, a Bee-Focused tour in the Botanical Garden was given by Dr. Yuval Sapir and Gidi Pisanti
Related Articles
