Does a coffee plantation host potential pollinators when it is not flowering? Bee distribution in an agricultural landscape with high biological diversity in the Brazilian Campo Rupestre

Abstract

BACKGROUND Natural environments within agricultural landscapes have been recognized as reservoirs of biodiversity and, therefore, providers of fundamental ecosystem services to human beings. Bees are the main providers of pollination and thus contribute to the production of food consumed worldwide. In this work, we evaluated the distribution of bees in an agricultural landscape of coffee plantation before and after coffee flowering. We aimed at understanding how richness, abundance and composition of bee communities vary among the different vegetation types within and around the coffee crops. RESULTS A total of 638 bees were collected – 312 in the dry season and 326 in the rainy season – totaling 85 species. The sampling methods collected different species, which provided complementary sampling. Only Euglossa leucotricha and Eulaema nigrita were recurrent in both seasons and vegetation types. There was no temporal difference in richness or abundance; however, both varied in relation to the vegetation type and were higher in the coffee‐native transition area. Diverging from richness or abundance, the composition of the communities differed regarding season and vegetation types. CONCLUSION We reinforce the importance of maintaining native vegetation in areas surrounding coffee plantations since the crop poorly hosts pollinators when it is not flowering. Natural and semi‐natural areas may act as reservoirs of floral visitors, thus maintaining potential cross‐pollination services available to coffee production. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

Optimizing coffee production: Increased floral visitation and bean quality at plantation edges with wild pollinators and natural vegetation

“…One way to deliver this productive increase for the entire plantation would be to provide resources and nesting opportunities inside or close the coffee plantation to increase bee nesting sites and abundance throughout the coffee planted area. Machado et al (2020) showed that the studied region has a high diversity of bees and in this study, bees built many nests in the border area and native vegetation. However, bees built fewer nests inside the coffee plantation, probably because there are no constant nest and floral resources that provide conditions for them to become resident.…”

“…It is clear from our results that coffee crop areas and native surrounding vegetation represent complementary dimensions of coffee pollinator niches, that is foraging and nesting. Moreover, the surroundings are the main source of pollinator food when coffee is not flowering (Machado et al, 2020).…”

Integrating effects of neighbor interactions for pollination and abiotic resources on coffee yield in a multi‐strata agroforest

“…Supporting high densities of managed honeybees, alongside wild pollinator populations, requires the maintenance of temporally consistent high floral densities. Therefore, management that maintains high densities of flowering forbs in the landscape is essential to maintaining farm multifunctionality (Machado et al, 2021).…”

Effects of pollination on the composition of volatile compounds in Coffea arabica L.

“…One of the most important ecosystem services is biotic pollination; 10 this service provides the world with an estimated annual profit ranging from nearly US $235 to 577 11 Over 70% of crop species depends to some extent on biotic pollination 12 . Biotic pollination is undermined by the degradation and fragmentation of the natural habitat in the region surrounding the agricultural matrix, since the lack of natural resources in this region negatively affects the diversity of pollinators 13‐17 …”

“…12 Biotic pollination is undermined by the degradation and fragmentation of the natural habitat in the region surrounding the agricultural matrix, since the lack of natural resources in this region negatively affects the diversity of pollinators. [13][14][15][16][17] Several studies reported in the literature have shown that biotic pollination increases coffee productivity. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Although coffee is a self-compatible crop, the production of Arabica coffee is increased significantly when biotic pollinators take part in the cultivation process.…”