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Meta-analysis reveals that pollinator functional diversity and abundance enhance crop pollination and yield

Woodcock, B. A. ; Garratt, M. P.D. ; Powney, G. D. ; Shaw, R. F. ; Osborne, J. L. ; Soroka, J. ; Lindström, S. A.M. LU orcid ; Stanley, D. ; Ouvrard, P. and Edwards, M. E. , et al. (2019) In Nature Communications 10(1).
Abstract

How insects promote crop pollination remains poorly understood in terms of the contribution of functional trait differences between species. We used meta-analyses to test for correlations between community abundance, species richness and functional trait metrics with oilseed rape yield, a globally important crop. While overall abundance is consistently important in predicting yield, functional divergence between species traits also showed a positive correlation. This result supports the complementarity hypothesis that pollination function is maintained by non-overlapping trait distributions. In artificially constructed communities (mesocosms), species richness is positively correlated with yield, although this effect is not seen under... (More)

How insects promote crop pollination remains poorly understood in terms of the contribution of functional trait differences between species. We used meta-analyses to test for correlations between community abundance, species richness and functional trait metrics with oilseed rape yield, a globally important crop. While overall abundance is consistently important in predicting yield, functional divergence between species traits also showed a positive correlation. This result supports the complementarity hypothesis that pollination function is maintained by non-overlapping trait distributions. In artificially constructed communities (mesocosms), species richness is positively correlated with yield, although this effect is not seen under field conditions. As traits of the dominant species do not predict yield above that attributed to the effect of abundance alone, we find no evidence in support of the mass ratio hypothesis. Management practices increasing not just pollinator abundance, but also functional divergence, could benefit oilseed rape agriculture.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Communications
volume
10
issue
1
article number
1481
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:30931943
  • scopus:85063725683
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/s41467-019-09393-6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
68ed1b95-e5d0-4d0b-851b-b2bfda717c14
date added to LUP
2019-04-18 11:27:01
date last changed
2024-04-16 03:53:30
@article{68ed1b95-e5d0-4d0b-851b-b2bfda717c14,
  abstract     = {{<p>How insects promote crop pollination remains poorly understood in terms of the contribution of functional trait differences between species. We used meta-analyses to test for correlations between community abundance, species richness and functional trait metrics with oilseed rape yield, a globally important crop. While overall abundance is consistently important in predicting yield, functional divergence between species traits also showed a positive correlation. This result supports the complementarity hypothesis that pollination function is maintained by non-overlapping trait distributions. In artificially constructed communities (mesocosms), species richness is positively correlated with yield, although this effect is not seen under field conditions. As traits of the dominant species do not predict yield above that attributed to the effect of abundance alone, we find no evidence in support of the mass ratio hypothesis. Management practices increasing not just pollinator abundance, but also functional divergence, could benefit oilseed rape agriculture.</p>}},
  author       = {{Woodcock, B. A. and Garratt, M. P.D. and Powney, G. D. and Shaw, R. F. and Osborne, J. L. and Soroka, J. and Lindström, S. A.M. and Stanley, D. and Ouvrard, P. and Edwards, M. E. and Jauker, F. and McCracken, M. E. and Zou, Y. and Potts, S. G. and Rundlöf, M. and Noriega, J. A. and Greenop, A. and Smith, H. G. and Bommarco, R. and van der Werf, W. and Stout, J. C. and Steffan-Dewenter, I. and Morandin, L. and Bullock, J. M. and Pywell, R. F.}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Meta-analysis reveals that pollinator functional diversity and abundance enhance crop pollination and yield}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09393-6}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41467-019-09393-6}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}