‘Farming with alternative pollinators’ approach supports diverse and abundant pollinator community in melon fields in a semi-arid landscape

Abstract

The presence of pollinating insects in crop fields is an essential factor for agricultural production and pollinator conservation. Agricultural intensification has been identified as a driver of pollinator decline over the last decades and challenges the efficiency of pollination. Several approaches are used to support pollinators and their ecosystem services, notably reward-based wildflower strips. ‘Farming with Alternative Pollinators’ (FAP) aims to attract and sustain pollinators using marketable habitat enhancement plants (MHEP) in the field borders instead of wildflowers. These MHEP are selected in conjunction with farmers. We tested here whether the FAP approach increases diversity and abundance of flower visitors in melon fields in a semi-arid landscape in Morocco. Moreover, we examined whether MHEP increase flower-visitor abundance in melon flowers. We recorded a total of 1330 insect specimens including 573 specimens of wild bees. Lasioglossum malachurum was the major flower visitor in melon and several MHEP. As flower-visitor abundance and diversity in FAP fields were higher than in control fields, we conclude that FAP can be a valuable approach for pollinator protection in agro-ecosystems; 16.5% of wild bees and wasps showed spillover from the field borders to the melon fields.

Fruit set is moderately dependent on insect pollinators in strawberry and is limited by the availability of pollen under natural open conditions

“…The effect of mixed crops, organic culture, conservation tillage, wildflowers, natural margins, hedgerows, green spaces, etc. can be variable (Allasino et al, 2023;Bencharki et al, 2023;McCullough et al, 2021;Cusser et al, 2023;Donkersley et al, 2023;Fountain, 2022;Image et al, 2023;Jacobs et al, 2023;Kirsch et al, 2023;Kuppler et al, 2023;Nel et al, 2017;Sentil et al, 2022;Toivonen et al, 2021;Zamorano et al, 2020). Most of this research has been conducted in Europe and North America with fewer reports from Asia, Africa and South America (Archer et al, 2014).…”