Pollen transport differs among bees and flies in a human‐modified landscape

Rader, Romina; Edwards, Will; Westcott, David A.; Cunningham, Saul A.; Howlett, Brad G.

doi:10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00757.x

Cited by 104 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 95 publications

(181 reference statements)

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“…In particular, as honey bee abundance differed only slightly between homogeneous and heterogeneous landscapes, its contribution to crop pollination is expected to be more or less constant across our ten fields. Although hoverflies have been shown to contribute significantly to pollination in oilseed rape (Jauker and Wolters 2008;Rader et al 2011), a recent study shows that honey bees and wild bees are probably better pollinators of oilseed rape than hoverflies (Jauker et al 2012). Therefore, the pollinator species that contributed most was probably the honey bee, simply because it was the most abundant species in the fields.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape

2012

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The relationships between landscape intensification, the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects, and their contributions to crop yield, quality, and market value are poorly studied, despite observed declines in wild and domesticated pollinators. Abundance and species richness of pollinating insects were estimated in ten fields of spring oilseed rape, Brassica napus var. SW Stratos™, located along a gradient of landscape compositions ranging from simple landscapes dominated by arable land to heterogeneous landscapes with extensive cover of semi-natural habitats. In each field, we assessed the contribution of wind and insect pollination to seed yield, seed quality (individual seed weight and oil and chlorophyll contents), and market value in a block experiment with four replicates and two treatments: (1) all flowers were accessible to insects, self and wind pollination, and (2) flowers enclosed in tulle net bags (mesh: 1 × 1 mm) were accessible only to wind and self pollination. Complex landscapes enhanced the overall abundance of wild insects as well as the abundance and species richness of hoverflies. This did not translate to a higher yield, probably due to consistent pollination by honey bees across all fields. However, the pollination experiment showed that insects increased seed weight per plant by 18% and market value by 20%. Seed quality was enhanced by insect pollination, rendering heavier seeds as well as higher oil and lower chlorophyll contents, clearly showing that insect pollination is required to reach high seed yield and quality in oilseed rape. Our study demonstrates considerable and previously underestimated contributions from pollinating insects to both the yield and the market value of oilseed rape.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape

2012

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“…Non-bee taxa, in particular, often have broader temporal activity ranges (34)(35)(36) and can provide pollination services at different times of the day compared with bees and in weather conditions when bees are unable to forage (37)(38)(39)(40). In addition, non-bee taxa may be more efficient in transferring pollen for some crops under certain conditions (18,19,38) and/or carry pollen further distances than some bees (41). It has been suggested that this long-distance pollen transfer could have important genetic consequences for wild plants (42,43).…”

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confidence: 99%

Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination

Rader

Bartomeus

Garibaldi

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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711

518

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Wild and managed bees are well documented as effective pollinators of global crops of economic importance. However, the contributions by pollinators other than bees have been little explored despite their potential to contribute to crop production and stability in the face of environmental change. Non-bee pollinators include flies, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, ants, birds, and bats, among others. Here we focus on non-bee insects and synthesize 39 field studies from five continents that directly measured the crop pollination services provided by non-bees, honey bees, and other bees to compare the relative contributions of these taxa. Non-bees performed 25-50% of the total number of flower visits. Although non-bees were less effective pollinators than bees per flower visit, they made more visits; thus these two factors compensated for each other, resulting in pollination services rendered by non-bees that were similar to those provided by bees. In the subset of studies that measured fruit set, fruit set increased with non-bee insect visits independently of bee visitation rates, indicating that non-bee insects provide a unique benefit that is not provided by bees. We also show that non-bee insects are not as reliant as bees on the presence of remnant natural or seminatural habitat in the surrounding landscape. These results strongly suggest that non-bee insect pollinators play a significant role in global crop production and respond differently than bees to landscape structure, probably making their crop pollination services more robust to changes in land use. Non-bee insects provide a valuable service and provide potential insurance against bee population declines.unmanaged pollinator | insect pollinator | fly | bee | beetle

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“…This scale has been used in previous studies to test for effects of landscape elements on the abundance, composition and diversity of insects visiting crop fields, for example by Letourneau and Goldstein (2001) for herbivores, predators and parasitoids; Thies et al (2003) for herbivores and parasitoids; and Kremen et al (2004) for native bees. Most parasitoids can disperse across several kilometers (e.g., Munro, 1998), and trivial movement distances are likely to cover hundreds of meters and vary among species in such large and diverse families (Brodmann et al, 1997;Roth et al, 2006;Rader et al, 2011). Thus, landscape characteristics within 0.5 km may be the most relevant scale for frequented refugia, but both the 500m and 1500m scales quantified in our vegetation analysis are likely within the potential dispersal range of many of these parasitoids.…”

Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Habitat eradication and cropland intensification may reduce parasitoid diversity and natural pest control services in annual crop fields

Letourneau

Allen

Kula

et al. 2015

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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California's central coast differs from many agricultural areas in the U.S., which feature large tracts of monoculture production fields and relatively simple landscapes. Known as the nation's salad bowl, and producing up to 90% of U.S. production of lettuces, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, this region is a mosaic of fresh vegetable fields, coastal meadow, chaparral shrubs, riparian and woodland habitat. We tested for relationships between the percent cover of crops, riparian and other natural landscape vegetation and the species richness of parasitic wasps and flies foraging in crops, such as broccoli, kale and cauliflower, and interpreted our results with respect to the decrease in natural habitat and increase in cropland cover prompted by a local microbial contamination event in 2006. Our key results are that: (1) as cropland cover in the landscape increased, fewer species of parasitoids were captured in the crop field, (2) parasitoid richness overall was positively associated with the amount of riparian and other natural vegetation in the surrounding 500m, (3) different groups of parasitoids were associated with unique types of natural vegetation, and (4) parasitism rates of sentinel cabbage aphid and cabbage looper pests were correlated with landscape vegetation features according to which parasitoids caused the mortality. Although individual species of parasitoids may thrive in landscapes that are predominantly short season crops, the robust associations found in this study across specialist and generalist parasitoids and different taxa (tachinid flies, ichneumon wasps, braconid wasps) shows that recent food safety practices targeting removal of natural vegetation around vegetable fields in an attempt to eliminate wildlife may harm natural enemy communities and reduce ecosystem services. We argue that enhancing biological diversity is a key goal for transforming agroecosystems for future productivity, sustainability and public health.

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Pollen transport differs among bees and flies in a human‐modified landscape

Cited by 104 publications

References 95 publications

Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape

Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape

Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination

Habitat eradication and cropland intensification may reduce parasitoid diversity and natural pest control services in annual crop fields

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