Landscapes with high amounts of mass-flowering fruit crops reduce the reproduction of two solitary bees

Eeraerts, Maxime; Piot, Niels; Pisman, Matti; Claus, Gregor; Meeus, Ivan; Smagghe, Guy

doi:10.1016/j.baae.2021.07.005

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Alternatively, pollen may be identified by DNA metabarcoding: a process involving identifying all species in an environmental sample using DNA barcode markers and highthroughput sequencing [25][26][27]. DNA metabarcoding has been used to successfully identify pollen from provisions within nests [28][29][30], honey [31][32][33], proboscises [34,35], guts [36,37], and the legs or bodies of insects [38][39][40] (Supporting Information). Whilst the majority of DNA metabarcoding studies utilize pollen, some have identified raw plant material from within nests to identify the leaf preferences of solitary bees [41][42][43].…”

Section: Methods For Identifying Floral Visitation By Pollinatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators

Lowe¹,

Jones²,

Witter³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The identification of floral visitation by pollinators provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of the fine-scale ecological interactions between plants and pollinators, contributing to biodiversity conservation and promoting ecosystem health. In this review we outline the various methods which can be used to identify floral visitation, providing a comparison between molecular and non-molecular methods. We review the literature covering the ways in which DNA metabarcoding has been used to answer ecological questions relating to plant use by pollinators and discuss the findings of this research. We present detailed methodological considerations for each step of the metabarcoding workflow, from sampling through to amplification and finally bioinformatic analysis. Detailed guidance is provided to researchers for utilization of these techniques, emphasizing the importance of standardization of methods and improving the reliability of results. Future opportunities and directions of using molecular methods to analyze plant-pollinator interactions are then discussed.

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Section: Methods For Identifying Floral Visitation By Pollinatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators

Lowe¹,

Jones²,

Witter³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…In intensively managed agricultural landscapes these resources are often scarce due to a reduction of flower‐rich semi‐natural habitats and flowering crops (Le Féon et al, 2010). This is exacerbated by the fact that floral resources are often not available over the full vegetation period, for example, because meadows are frequently mown and mass‐flowering crop monocultures like fruit trees typically provide flowers only for a short time (Eeraerts et al, 2021; Le Féon et al, 2010). This limited resource period poses problems to both social and solitary bees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild bee communities benefit from temporal complementarity of hedges and flower strips in apple orchards

Königslöw

Fornoff

Klein

2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Wild bees importantly pollinate both crop and wild plants. Yet, in intensive agricultural landscapes, wild bees are rare due to resource limitations of nectar and pollen. Flower strips and hedges are often used as resource enhancements for wild bees to overcome this shortage, but provide floral resources only during specific time periods. To sustain diverse and stable bee communities, beeattractive flowers need to be available during the entire growing season. This may be achieved by combining flower strips and hedges to complement each other and provide continuous floral resources.2. Over three subsequent years, we compared the phenology of flower and wild bee communities in perennial flower strips, hedges and improved hedges (complemented with a sown herb layer) in conventional apple orchards in Southern Germany, a pollination-dependent crop system.3. Hedges provided floral resources in the early season while the flower strips took over later in the season. 4. Bees visited the hedges mostly from March to June, whereas they visited the flower strips from June to August in the first year, and in the second year already from April onwards. Flower strips were visited with an overall higher abundance and species richness than both the hedges and the improved hedges. Synthesis and application.For enhancing wild bees in intensive apple orchards, hedges and perennial flower strips are complementary in providing flower resources. Yet, flower strips bloom more constantly and during periods of flower scarcity, and thus attract a higher diversity of bees than hedges. Perennial flower strips of different age classes should be preferred over annual strips, at best in a network with some well-maintained hedges, as perennial flower strips of different age attract different bee communities and thus potentially a higher bee diversity on the landscape level.

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“…Wild pollinators, in turn, have also been investigated as pollinators of sweet cherry, with a focus on the dependence of wild pollinators on semi‐natural habitats and influences at the landscape scale on commercial fruit set (Eeraerts et al., 2017; Schuepp et al., 2014). Landscape context has been associated with wild pollinator abundance and diversity, since it affects pollinator resources including nesting sites and the availability of additional forage (Eeraerts, Piot, et al., 2021; Eeraerts, Van Den Berge, et al., 2021; Kay et al., 2020). Other studies demonstrated greater pollination services, improved fruit set and greater yields in sweet cherry orchards when wild pollinator diversity was enhanced even in the presence of honeybees (Eeraerts et al., 2019; Holzschuh et al., 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Landscape context has been associated with wild pollinator abundance and diversity, since it affects pollinator resources including nesting sites and the availability of additional forage (Eeraerts, Piot, et al, 2021;Eeraerts, Van Den Berge, et al, 2021;Kay et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild bees are less abundant but show better pollination behaviour for sweet cherry than managed pollinators

Mateos‐Fierro

Garratt

Fountain

et al. 2022

J Applied Entomology

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Pollinating insects provide pollination services to many crop species, including sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), and this can be delivered by both managed and wild pollinators. Managed pollinators are often used to pollinate a range of fruit crops, but increasingly the role of wild insects is being studied. However, the importance of pollinator species depends on their relative abundance and pollination effectiveness, which depends on their foraging activity and their variability throughout the day. In this study, insect visitors of blossoms were observed in commercial sweet cherry orchards to explore abundance, diversity and pollination foraging behaviour of different insect pollinator groups throughout the day. A total of 1,174 pollinators from 31 different species were recorded visiting cherry blossoms over 2 years, of which 71.0% of total visits were by managed pollinators (western honeybee, Apis mellifera L. and buff‐tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris L.) compared to 29.0% by wild pollinators. On average, solitary bees visited a sweet cherry blossom for the longest duration (20.7 (±2.0 SE) seconds), whereas wild queen bumblebees visited the greatest number of flowers per minute (mean of 19.0 (±1.3 SE)). As both these pollinator groups contacted cherry stigmas more often and moved more frequently between tree rows than managed bees and hoverflies, they are more likely to facilitate cross‐pollination. The different pollinator groups also showed variation in behavioural parameters throughout the day, but less variation was recorded when all pollinator groups were considered altogether. This suggests diverse pollinator communities might be expected to provide a more stable pollination service to sweet cherry. This study demonstrates that whilst cherry blossoms were more frequently visited by managed pollinators, wild solitary bee and bumblebee behaviours are likely to be more effective at enhancing pollination in sweet cherry orchards, which, in turn, might lead to increased yields.

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Landscapes with high amounts of mass-flowering fruit crops reduce the reproduction of two solitary bees

Cited by 21 publications

References 44 publications

Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators

Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators

Wild bee communities benefit from temporal complementarity of hedges and flower strips in apple orchards

Wild bees are less abundant but show better pollination behaviour for sweet cherry than managed pollinators

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