AS THE ACREAGES PLANTED TO GENETICALLY ENGINEERED (GE) CROPS INCREASE, IMPROVING PREDICTIONS OF GENE FLOW IN INSECT-POLLINATED SYSTEMS BECOMES IMPERATIVE TO FOSTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE COEXISTENCE OF SEED-PRODUCTION MARKETS AND REDUCE GENE FLOW TO FERAL AND WILD POPULATIONS. THE OVERALL GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO EXTEND A GENE FLOW MODEL BY INSECT POLLINATORS DEVELOPED FOR CONTINUOUS LANDSCAPES TO DISCONTINUOUS LANDSCAPES. TO REACH THIS GOAL, WE WILL (1) IDENTIFY THE RULE USED BY BEES WHEN SELECTING THE NEXT PATCH TO MOVE TO; (2) USE THE RULE FOR SELECTING PATCHES ESTABLISHED UNDER (1) TO EXTEND THE EXISTING GENE FLOW MODEL TO DISCONTINUOUS LANDSCAPES; (3) COLLECT SEEDS FROM AN EXPERIMENT WITH A CENTER PATCH OF ROUNDUP READY ALFALFA AND PERIPHERAL PATCHES OF CONVENTIONAL ALFALFA OF DIFFERENT SIZES AND ISOLATION DISTANCES TO DETECT GENE FLOW AND TEST THE GENE FLOW MODEL, AND (4) TEST THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO REDUCE GENE FLOW BASED ON FIELD CONFIGURATIONS. WE USE ALFALFA, MEDICAGO SATIVA, AS MODEL SYSTEM TO GATHER THESE DATA AND TEST THE MODEL. WE GATHER AND COMPARE DATA COLLECTED FROM THREE BEE SPECIES, THE EUROPEAN HONEY BEE, THE COMMON EASTERN BUMBLE BEE AND THE ALFALFA LEAFCUTTING BEE. BEYOND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT, THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE NOVEL MODELING STRATEGIES IN A SETTING THAT HAS BEEN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO TACKLE. THIS RESEARCH ALIGNS BEST WITH PROGRAM AREA 3, GENE TRANSFER BETWEEN GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANIMALS, PLANTS AND MICROORGANISMS AND RELATED WILD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISMS. MORE SPECIFICALLY IT APPLIES TO SECTION 3D, DATA ACQUISITION AND MODELING OF GE ORGANISMS OR ENGINEERED GENE ESCAPE IN THE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING MODELING TO IDENTIFY PARAMETERS THAT INFLUENCE GENE DISPERSAL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.