National Pollinator Week — Resources & Support
Help feed bees so they can help feed us! While Pollinator Week comes to an end for the year, please remember that you can help pollinators every day.
Help feed bees so they can help feed us! While Pollinator Week comes to an end for the year, please remember that you can help pollinators every day.
The University of TN, Knoxville was certified as a Bee Campus, USA in March of 2020! To achieve this recognition, UTK has committed to developing a plan to include pollinator habitats on campus and hosting events and learning opportunities to increase awareness about the importance of pollinators
Did you know that one out of every three bites of food has been influenced by animal pollination? Pollinators are involved in the production of healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Additionally, they are also involved in the pollination of some less-commonly known products such as cacao (chocolate), vanilla, agave, and even coffee!
For #NationalPollinatorWeek, we would love to take a moment to bring the spotlight to the poster-child of pollinators:
The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is not native to North America but has become an integral part of agriculture in the United States. Honey bees are generalists in that they forage on a variety of plant species, including many of the food crops that are also not native to the U.S.
Check out these photos of these hoverflies!
In lieu of National Pollinator Week, we would like to bring chimney bees, a wonderful little pollinator, to the spotlight!
This is a time to recognize and celebrate the diversity of pollinators and what we can do to support them.
This is a time to recognize and celebrate the diversity of pollinators and what we can do to support them!
Abstract: Genome wide association studies, GWAS, are performed to determine potential associations between phenotypic (traits observed) data and genotypic (genome) data. Ipomoea batatas, sweetpotato, is a vital crop for combating both visible and invisible hunger, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding the genetic diversity of the sweetpotato germplasm and the genetic architecture underlying agronomic traits is crucial to maintenance and utility of the genetic resources for the crop’s improvement. We will perform a GWAS study to determine potential genes and genomic features associated with traits of interest including disease and pest resistance traits, culinary traits, phytonutritional traits, and morphological traits. We intend to determine potential genes of interests and functional markers for breeding programs.