• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.263-267
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• 2002

A faunistic survey was conducted to find Osmia bees to be used as an effective pollinator in apple orchards. Collections were carried out from more than 50 selected sites in mountainous areas throughout Korea for 3 years (1996-98) with providing bundle of bamboo traps (6-8 mm of inner diameter) as Osmia nesting site. Five species of Osmia ：O. cornifrons (Radoszkowsky), O. pedicornis Cockerell, O. taurus Smith, O. satoi Yasumatsu et Hirashima and O. jacotti Cockerell, were collected at the rates of 39.9-51.7, 28.3-53.7, 5.5-19.1, 0.8-0.9 and 0.0-0.1%, respectively. And O. cornifrons and O. pedicornis were the dominants with over 80% of total Osmia collected through the collections. Out of those bees collected, rates of female were 29-43% for O. cornifrons. 10-12% for O. pedicornis and 22-43% for O. taurus. When the collection sites of the dominant 3 species were grouped in relation to altitudes above the sea level, about 50% or more bees were collected form the higher sites (500m or higher) while 20% or less were from the lower sites (200m or lower). When the bamboo traps were placed at the same sites continuously for 3 years, number of O. cornrfrons and O. taurus collected was slightly increased while that of O. pedicornis was drastically decreased year after year. Nesting by Osmia bees seems to have started at around early April, peaked at early May and ended by Mid June, while nest competing species of Sphecidae and Eumenidae started nesting at around early June, peaked at early July and ended by the Mid August.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.123-133
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• 2021

In order to use Osmia cornifrons more effectively in apples, we investigated the pollination effect and nesting activity of O. cornifrons on 'Hongro', the middle-season cultivar, and 'Fuji', the late-season cultivar. There was a significant difference in the nesting activity and pollination effect of O. cornifrons depending on the apple cultivar. The nesting activity, rate of trap nesting, and reproduction in 'Fuji' were 2.5, 1.5, and 3.8 times greater than in 'Hongro', respectively. The pollination effect according to cultivar 'Fuji' was 1.6 times greater than that of 'Hongro' in the central fruit set. In terms of the quality of fruit, the asymmetry index of 'Fuji' was 2.5 times lower than that of 'Hongro', and the number of apple seeds of 'Fuji' was 1.9 times greater than that of 'Hongro'. The main reason for this result was the air temperature. The activity of O. cornifrons was most affected by air temperature (R2 = 0.578). It is expected that the nesting activity and pollination effect are great in 'Fuji' (17.4-24.1℃) when the temperature during the blooming period is higher than that of 'Hongro' (12.5-20.2℃). Our study provides important information on stable apple production for apple cultivators, and can be used as an evidence for changes in flora and insect fauna caused by climate change.