Pollination crisis Down‐Under: Has Australasia dodged the bullet?

Abstract

Since mid‐1990s, concerns have increased about a human‐induced “pollination crisis.” Threats have been identified to animals that act as plant pollinators, plants pollinated by these animals, and consequently human well‐being. Threatening processes include loss of natural habitat, climate change, pesticide use, pathogen spread, and introduced species. However, concern has mostly been during last 10–15 years and from Europe and North America, with Australasia, known as Down‐Under, receiving little attention. So perhaps Australasia has “dodged the bullet”? We systematically reviewed the published literature relating to the “pollination crisis” via Web of Science, focusing on issues amenable to this approach. Across these issues, we found a steep increase in publications over the last few decades and a major geographic bias towards Europe and North America, with relatively little attention in Australasia. While publications from Australasia are underrepresented, factors responsible elsewhere for causing the “pollination crisis” commonly occur in Australasia, so this lack of coverage probably reflects a lack of awareness rather than the absence of a problem. In other words, Australasia has not “dodged the bullet” and should take immediate action to address and mitigate its own “pollination crisis.” Sensible steps would include increased taxonomic work on suspected plant pollinators, protection for pollinator populations threatened with extinction, establishing long‐term monitoring of plant–pollinator relationships, incorporating pollination into sustainable agriculture, restricting the use of various pesticides, adopting an Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management approach, and developing partnerships with First Nations peoples for research, conservation and management of plants and their pollinators. Appropriate Government policy, funding and regulation could help.

One for all and all for one: a review on the commonality of risk to honeybees and wild pollinators and the benefits of beekeepers in conservation

“…By human hands, honeybees have been moved to many places where they are not native. High domestic hive densities like those in the Americas (Geslin et al, 2017), as well as released, feral populations like those in Australasia (Prendergast, 2023;Pyke et al, 2023), have the potential to magnify the abovestated issues because of the sheer number of colonies present where they have never been before. Due to the increasing disappearance of key habitats, the ever-shifting use of harmful chemicals, climate change and invasive species, the effect of managed pollinators certainly has the potential to become damaging to local pollinator communities under the right circumstances (Brown and Paxton, 2009;Brown et al, 2016;Baldock, 2020;Herrera, 2020;MacInnis et al, 2023).…”