Landscape effects on pollinator abundance differ among taxonomic groups

Abstract

Understanding how landscape composition affects pollinator abundance is crucial for conserving the sustainability of the symbiotic relationship between plants and pollinators. However, field evidence on the effect of landscape composition and spatial scales on the abundance of each pollinator group is biased toward bee pollinators, and non-bee pollinators tend to be excluded. This study aims to evaluate the effect of landscape composition at various spatial scales on diverse taxonomic groups of pollinators, including non-bee pollinators. We selected 22 grasslands with varying landscape compositions in Shiroi City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. We recorded the abundance of pollinators and floral resource availability at these sites. The effects of landscape composition within a 100-1000 m radius and the floral resource availability were analyzed using Bayesian generalized linear mixed models to determine whether these factors affected the abundance of each pollinator group. As a result, the difference in important factors among the pollinator groups was detected; Scoliidae, Lycaenidae, Stomorhina obsoleta, and Sphaerophoria were influenced by the landscape composition, whereas Bombus diversus and Hesperiidae were not. Scoliidae was affected by the proportion of agri-field and forest areas within a 500-1000 m radius. St. obsoleta and Sphaerophoria showed different response patterns to the proportion of urban land within a 100 m radius. B. diversus and Hesperiidae were influenced by floral resource availability. Our study suggests that considering the spatial scales of landscape composition on the target species is essential to plan effective conservation measures.

Conserved grasslands support similar pollinator diversity as pollinator-specific practice regardless of proximal cropland and pesticide exposure

“…Conservation efforts aimed at increasing pollinator diversity commonly include creating pollinator-friendly habitat by growing flowering plants to support a diversity of pollinator species within agricultural landscapes [11,20]. In temperate regions, cropland margins are often used to provide additional pollinator habitat in otherwise highly modified landscapes [11,20,21]. In the USA, such efforts have occurred at the federal level since the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 [22] introduced language recognizing the importance of pollinators and allowed for measures to target the conservation of pollinator habitat.…”

Message from the new Editor‐in‐Chief

“…Our editorial team will continue to publish original papers covering a diverse range of topics in ecology. Last year, we published original papers on population ecology (e.g., Tsumura, 2023;Worth et al, 2023), community ecology (e.g., Chang et al, 2023;Ohkawara & Taijiri, 2023), ecosystem ecology (e.g., Matsumoto et al, 2023), conservation ecology (Hirano et al, 2023;Tsujimoto et al, 2023), plant-animal interactions (e.g., Kawata & Takimoto, 2023;S anchez-Collazo et al, 2023), behavioral ecology (Bibi et al, 2023), and physiological ecology (e.g., Rooney et al, 2023;Sugimoto & Ishida, 2023), among others. Our papers also cover topics that are of high societal interest, including the analysis of the ongoing invasion of the whitefooted ant (Technomyrmex brunneus Forel) in eastern Asia (Putri & Cronin, 2023), recent expansion of a Japanese land leech (Haemadipsa japonica Whitman) associated with the migration of sika deer (Morishima et al, 2023) and future persistence of high-mountain lizards worldwide under climate change (Moreira et al, 2023).…”