Almond orchards with living ground cover host more wild insect pollinators

Saunders, Manu E.; Luck, Gary W.; Mayfield, Margaret M.

doi:10.1007/s10841-013-9584-6

Cited by 65 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Studies on organic almond orchards and small orchards adjacent to remnant vegetation have recorded alternative pollinators (Mandelik & Roll ; Saunders, Luck & Mayfield ) in some cases playing a significant role in pollination (Klein et al . ; Brittain et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study focused on conventionally managed orchards that have very little non‐crop vegetation relative to the large area of synchronously flowering almond trees, so that wild pollinators are diluted across a wide area with few resources outside of the short almond flowering period. Pan trapping in almond orchards in the same area, with the same management methods, caught no bees other than honeybees (Saunders, Luck & Mayfield ). Our observations over four flowering seasons reveal no bees other than Apis mellifera visiting these flowers, and other possible pollinators (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Improving spatial arrangement of honeybee colonies to avoid pollination shortfall and depressed fruit set

Cunningham

Fournier

Neave

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Pollination shortfalls affect yield of many crops, and the use of managed honeybee colonies is a common practice for addressing the problem. However, colony density and arrangement strategies are not generally based on replicated scientific trials, so there is considerable uncertainty regarding effectiveness of different practices. We address this problem with experiments in almond orchards in south-east Australia, considering impacts on honeybee pollen foraging and fruit set. 2. We examined the effect of distance from colony location on the depletion rate of pollen from flowers near (~40 m) and far (260-490 m) from colonies in almond orchards. We assessed pollen loads of 950 flowers in total, collected at four times of day (9-9:30 h, 11-11:30 h, 13-13:30 h and 15-15:30 h), from 8 near : far pairs. We also surveyed fruit set on nearly 900 trees in replicated transects over two seasons to determine the effect of distance from colony when using large placements of colonies (~120 colonies, N = 581 trees), and effect of colony density when using smaller placements of colonies (N = 313 trees). 3. Flowers near colonies maintained an approximately constant mean pollen load over the course of the day, indicating that the rate of pollen released by flowers was matched by the rate of pollen collection by bees. Flowers far from colonies increased in pollen load over the course of the day, indicating relatively less pollen-collecting activity, so that by 15:30 h they had, on average, 46% more than flowers near colonies. 4. Fruit set declined with distance by 22% over 850 m, consistent with the observation that pollen foraging declines over distance from colony. Fruit set also declined with colony density from 46% at 6Á8 colonies per ha to 33% at 2Á8 colonies per ha. 5. Synthesis and applications. Pollen-collecting activity is relatively low at flowers far from honeybee colonies, creating a risk of lost yield through underpollination. Fruit set declines if colony density is reduced below 6Á8 colonies per ha. Pollination outcomes in terms of fruit set are improved when fewer colonies are used per placement (<100) and placements of colonies are arranged with shorter distances (<700 m) between them, so that more trees are within 400 m of colonies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving spatial arrangement of honeybee colonies to avoid pollination shortfall and depressed fruit set

Cunningham

Fournier

Neave

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Almond flowers require cross pollination to set seed, and in north-west Victoria, over 100,000 European honeybee ( Apis mellifera ) hives are trucked into almond plantations each year, costing growers more than $7 million annually. Yet, almost nothing is known of the potential contribution that native pollinators could make to almond pollination in this region 30 . A more complete analysis could consider the costs and benefits, and ultimately net return, of the activities of a range of species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The net return from animal activity in agro-ecosystems: trading off benefits from ecosystem services against costs from crop damage

Luck

2014

F1000Res

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Animals provide benefits to agriculture through the provision of ecosystem services, but also inflict costs such as damaging crops. These benefits and costs are mostly examined independently, rather than comparing the trade-offs of animal activity in the same system and quantifying the net return from beneficial minus detrimental activities. Here, I examine the net return associated with the activity of seed-eating birds in almond orchards by quantifying the economic costs and benefits of bird consumption of almonds. Pre-harvest, the consumption of harvestable almonds by birds cost growers AUD$57.50 ha -1 when averaged across the entire plantation. Post-harvest, the same bird species provide an ecosystem service by removing mummified nuts from trees that growers otherwise need to remove to reduce threats from fungal infection or insect pest infestations. The value of this ecosystem service ranged from AUD$82.50 ha -1–$332.50 ha -1 based on the replacement costs of mechanical or manual removal of mummified nuts, respectively. Hence, bird consumption of almonds yielded a positive net return of AUD$25–$275 ha -1 averaged across the entire plantation. However, bird activity varied spatially resulting in positive net returns occurring primarily at the edges of crops where activity was higher, compared to negative net returns in crop interiors. Moreover, partial mummy nut removal by birds meant that bird activity may only reduce costs to growers rather than replace these costs completely. Similar cost-benefit trade-offs exist across nature, and quantifying net returns can better inform land management decisions such as when to control pests or promote ecosystem service provision.

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“…In 2011, we sampled 50 conventional almond sites and 18 mallee sites (see Saunders & Luck ; Saunders et al . ). Finally, Project 6 involved a large (~400 km 2 ) and innovative survey of the regent parrot by research scientists, local field naturalists and industry staff (Box 2).…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Interactions between almond plantations and native ecosystems: Lessons learned from north‐western Victoria

Luck¹,

Spooner²,

Watson³

et al. 2014

Eco Management Restoration

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Almond orchards with living ground cover host more wild insect pollinators

Cited by 65 publications

References 109 publications

Improving spatial arrangement of honeybee colonies to avoid pollination shortfall and depressed fruit set

Improving spatial arrangement of honeybee colonies to avoid pollination shortfall and depressed fruit set

The net return from animal activity in agro-ecosystems: trading off benefits from ecosystem services against costs from crop damage

Interactions between almond plantations and native ecosystems: Lessons learned from north‐western Victoria

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