Bee Biodiversity Critical for Crops
Posted on August 9th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Bees are among North America’s most important agricultural asset, increasing yields in roughly three-quarters of our crops. But as researchers funded by the National Science Foundation are learning, plants need a diversity of pollinators – and everyday gardeners can help.
Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on Bee Biodiversity Critical for Crops
Tags: agriculture, bees, crops, ecology, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, farming, National Science Foundation, NSF, pollinators, Rachael Winree, Research, Rutgers
Students in grades 6 to 8 explore food production problems related to population growth and then engineer a model vertical farm as a potential solution in a fictional community, Greentown, culminating with a presentation to the imaginary city’s “legislators.” 
In this NASA activity, students in grades 1-8 learn about the challenges of space nutrition and designing food packaging by observing, measuring, comparing, and contrasting the ripening of fruits and vegetables when exposed to air and the effect of chemical treatments to inhibit ripening.
Biofuels and other interdisciplinary energy topics are the subject of free “train the trainer” workshops for STEM and agriculture teachers sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bioenergy and Bioproducts Education Program. The central New York workshop runs from July 27 – 30, with a Washington, D.C., workshop from August 10 – 13.
