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Bees increase seed set of wild plants while the proportion of arable land has a variable effect on pollination in European agricultural landscapes

Herbertsson, Lina LU ; Ekroos, Johan LU ; Albrecht, Matthias ; Bartomeus, Ignasi ; Batáry, Péter ; Bommarco, Riccardo LU ; Caplat, Paul LU ; Diekötter, Tim ; Eikestam, Jenny M. and Entling, Martin H. , et al. (2021) In Plant Ecology and Evolution 154(3). p.341-350
Abstract

Background and aims – Agricultural intensification and loss of farmland heterogeneity have contributed to population declines of wild bees and other pollinators, which may have caused subsequent declines in insect-pollinated wild plants. Material and methods – Using data from 37 studies on 22 pollinator-dependent wild plant species across Europe, we investigated whether flower visitation and seed set of insect-pollinated plants decline with an increasing proportion of arable land within 1 km. Key results – Seed set increased with increasing flower visitation by bees, most of which were wild bees, but not with increasing flower visitation by other insects. Increasing proportion of arable land had a strongly variable effect on seed set... (More)

Background and aims – Agricultural intensification and loss of farmland heterogeneity have contributed to population declines of wild bees and other pollinators, which may have caused subsequent declines in insect-pollinated wild plants. Material and methods – Using data from 37 studies on 22 pollinator-dependent wild plant species across Europe, we investigated whether flower visitation and seed set of insect-pollinated plants decline with an increasing proportion of arable land within 1 km. Key results – Seed set increased with increasing flower visitation by bees, most of which were wild bees, but not with increasing flower visitation by other insects. Increasing proportion of arable land had a strongly variable effect on seed set and flower visitation by bees across studies. Conclusion – Factors such as landscape configuration, local habitat quality, and temporally changing resource availability (e.g. due to mass-flowering crops or honey bee hives) could have modified the effect of arable land on pollination. While our results highlight that the persistence of wild bees is crucial to maintain plant diversity, we also show that pollen limitation due to declining bee populations in homogenized agricultural landscapes is not a universal driver causing parallel losses of bees and insect-pollinated plants.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Habitat loss, Landscape complexity, Landscape simplification, Pollinating insects, Pollination, Semi-natural
in
Plant Ecology and Evolution
volume
154
issue
3
pages
10 pages
publisher
Societe Royale de Botanique de Belgique
external identifiers
  • scopus:85123110620
ISSN
2032-3913
DOI
10.5091/PLECEVO.2021.1884
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
94d23931-a67c-4939-bc8c-5cb155dedefe
date added to LUP
2022-05-13 10:56:17
date last changed
2024-05-05 13:44:17
@article{94d23931-a67c-4939-bc8c-5cb155dedefe,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background and aims – Agricultural intensification and loss of farmland heterogeneity have contributed to population declines of wild bees and other pollinators, which may have caused subsequent declines in insect-pollinated wild plants. Material and methods – Using data from 37 studies on 22 pollinator-dependent wild plant species across Europe, we investigated whether flower visitation and seed set of insect-pollinated plants decline with an increasing proportion of arable land within 1 km. Key results – Seed set increased with increasing flower visitation by bees, most of which were wild bees, but not with increasing flower visitation by other insects. Increasing proportion of arable land had a strongly variable effect on seed set and flower visitation by bees across studies. Conclusion – Factors such as landscape configuration, local habitat quality, and temporally changing resource availability (e.g. due to mass-flowering crops or honey bee hives) could have modified the effect of arable land on pollination. While our results highlight that the persistence of wild bees is crucial to maintain plant diversity, we also show that pollen limitation due to declining bee populations in homogenized agricultural landscapes is not a universal driver causing parallel losses of bees and insect-pollinated plants.</p>}},
  author       = {{Herbertsson, Lina and Ekroos, Johan and Albrecht, Matthias and Bartomeus, Ignasi and Batáry, Péter and Bommarco, Riccardo and Caplat, Paul and Diekötter, Tim and Eikestam, Jenny M. and Entling, Martin H. and Farbu, Sunniva and Farwig, Nina and Gonzalez-Varo, Juan P. and Hass, Annika L. and Holzschuh, Andrea and Hopfenmüller, Sebastian and Jakobsson, Anna and Jauker, Birgit and Kovács-Hostyánszki, Anikó and Kleve, Wera and Kunin, William E. and Lindström, Sandra A.M. and Mullen, Sarah and Öckinger, Erik and Petanidou, Theodora and Potts, Simon G. and Power, Eileen F. and Rundlöf, Maj and Seibel, Kathrin and Sõber, Virve and Söderman, Annika and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf and Stout, Jane C. and Teder, Tiit and Tscharntke, Teja and Smith, Henrik G.}},
  issn         = {{2032-3913}},
  keywords     = {{Habitat loss; Landscape complexity; Landscape simplification; Pollinating insects; Pollination; Semi-natural}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{341--350}},
  publisher    = {{Societe Royale de Botanique de Belgique}},
  series       = {{Plant Ecology and Evolution}},
  title        = {{Bees increase seed set of wild plants while the proportion of arable land has a variable effect on pollination in European agricultural landscapes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5091/PLECEVO.2021.1884}},
  doi          = {{10.5091/PLECEVO.2021.1884}},
  volume       = {{154}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}