Diversity of wild bees supports pollination services in an urbanized landscape

Lowenstein, David M.; Matteson, Kevin C.; Minor, Emily S.

doi:10.1007/s00442-015-3389-0

Cited by 137 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Honeybees (Apis mellifera) were often the least effective type, though often the most abundant. This ties in with accumulating recent literature on the relative benefits of wild bees and of commercial honey bees, as pollinators of natural habitats and urban spaces (Lowenstein et al 2015;Hausmann et al 2016). Wild bees are also vital, and often better than Apis, as crop pollinators, with the importance of honeybees often over-emphasised in the past (see Breeze et al 2011;Garibaldi et al 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Insights from measuring pollen deposition: quantifying the pre-eminence of bees as flower visitors and effective pollinators

Willmer

Cunnold

Ballantyne

2017

Arthropod-Plant Interactions

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Using our accumulated datasets from Kenyan savanna, Mediterranean garigue, UK gardens and heathland, involving 76 plants from 30 families, we present detailed data to quantify the superiority of bees as pollinators of most flowering plants when compared with other flower visitors. Bees provided the majority of visits to study species at all sites, and 33 of the 76 plants received more than 90% of their visits from bees. Furthermore, pollen deposition onto stigmas from single-visit events (SVD, a measure of pollination effectiveness) was significantly higher for bees than non-bees at all the four sites where a major proportion of the flora was sampled. Solitary bees, and also bumblebees in temperate habitats, were the best potential pollinators for most plants in this respect, and significantly out-performed honeybees. Only a few plants were well served by bombyliid flies, and fewer again by larger hoverflies, butterflies, or solitary wasps. Bees also achieved better matches of their visit timing to peak pollen availability (measured indirectly as peak SVD), and made much shorter visits to flowers than did non-bees, permitting a substantially greater visit frequency. Additionally, they deposited significantly lower levels of potentially deleterious heterospecific pollen on stigmas in heathland and Mediterranean garigue, though not in the UK garden with densely clustered high-diversity flowering, or in the Kenyan savanna site with particularly dispersed flowering patches and some specialist non-bee flowers. Our data provide a novel and quantified characterisation of the specific advantages of bees as flower visitors, and underline the need to conserve diverse bee communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Insights from measuring pollen deposition: quantifying the pre-eminence of bees as flower visitors and effective pollinators

Willmer

Cunnold

Ballantyne

2017

Arthropod-Plant Interactions

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“…Urbanisation can also modify ecological processes (e.g. pollination, seed dispersal, predation) (Cheptou et al 2008, Lowenstein et al 2015, but the possible effects of urban habitats on ecosystem functioning are rarely tested or reported (McPhearson et al 2016, Bishop et al 2017, Mayer-Pinto et al 2018. A large part of the global human population lives in coastal cities (Seto et al 2012, Dafforn et al 2015.…”

Section: Keep a Mid Course Between Two Extremes Ovidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanisation supplements ecosystem functioning in disturbed estuaries

et al. 2018

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Humans have urbanised and fragmented landscapes across the globe, with detrimental impacts to biodiversity, habitats and food webs in most biomes. Urbanisation might also modify the provision of ecological functions, but these putative effects of landscape transformation are rarely measured. Coastal cities are typically located near estuaries, and we tested for potential impacts of these on ecological functions. Our study used 22 estuaries in eastern Australia as model systems to examine how urbanisation shapes the consumption of carrion by fish, a pivotal ecological function in estuaries. Fish assemblages varied among estuaries according to the extent of shoreline hardening, and this was correlated with changes in the rate of carrion consumption. In estuaries with low levels of shoreline hardening and abundant remnant mangroves, most carrion was consumed by toadfishes (Tetraodontidae). By contrast, in moderately urban estuaries (i.e. where 20–60% of shorelines had been hardened with artificial structures) yellowfin bream (Sparidae) replaced toadfish and performed the bulk of the scavenging function. Bream are particularly effective scavengers that utilize artificial structures as habitat for both foraging and sheltering. We show that by augmenting habitat for an important species of scavenger, the moderate addition of urban structures to estuarine shorelines also helped to supplement a key ecological function in estuaries. Urbanisation impacts diversity in all ecosystems, but many opportunistic species flourish in urban habitats. Identifying and conserving taxa that perform important roles in urban environments is now a critical conservation challenge for maintaining ecological functions across disturbed landscapes.

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“…Osborne et al 2008), with diverse urban bee communities also providing a benefit by pollinating urban crops and garden plants (e.g. Lowenstein, Matteson & Minor 2015).…”

Section: R E S P O N S E T O U R B a N I S A T I O N V A R I E S A M mentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape impacts on pollinator communities in temperate systems: evidence and knowledge gaps

et al. 2016

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Summary1. This review assesses current knowledge about the interplay between landscape and pollinator communities. Our primary aim is to provide an evidence base, identify key gaps in knowledge and highlight initiatives that will help develop and improve strategies for pollinator conservation. 2. Human-dominated landscapes (such as arable land and urban environments) can have detrimental impacts on pollinator communities but these negative effects can be ameliorated by proximity to semi-natural habitat and habitat corridors. There is also evidence to suggest that increased landscape heterogeneity and landscape configuration can play an important role in the maintenance of diverse pollinator communities. 3. Landscape characteristics have direct impacts on pollinator communities, but can also influence abundance and richness through interaction with other drivers such as changing climate or increased chemical inputs in land management. 4. The majority of existing literature focuses on specific hymenopteran groups, but there is a lack of information on the impact of landscape changes on non-bee taxa. Research is also needed on the effectiveness of management interventions for pollinators and multiple year observations are required for both urban and rural initiatives. 5. Current policies and monitoring schemes could contribute data that will plug gaps in knowledge, thus enabling greater understanding of relationships between landscapes and pollinator populations. This would in turn help design mitigation and adaptation strategies for pollinator conservation.

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Diversity of wild bees supports pollination services in an urbanized landscape

Cited by 137 publications

References 61 publications

Insights from measuring pollen deposition: quantifying the pre-eminence of bees as flower visitors and effective pollinators

Insights from measuring pollen deposition: quantifying the pre-eminence of bees as flower visitors and effective pollinators

Urbanisation supplements ecosystem functioning in disturbed estuaries

Landscape impacts on pollinator communities in temperate systems: evidence and knowledge gaps

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