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Opportunities to reduce pollination deficits and address production shortfalls in an important insect pollinated crop

Garratt, Michael P D ; de Groot, G A ; Albrecht, Matthias ; Bosch, Jordi ; Breeze, Tom D ; Fountain, Michelle T ; Klein, Alex M ; McKerchar, Megan ; Park, M and Paxton, Robert J , et al. (2021) In Ecological Applications
Abstract

Pollinators face multiple pressures and there is evidence of populations in decline. As demand for insect-pollinated crops increases, crop production is threatened by shortfalls in pollination services. Understanding the extent of current yield deficits due to pollination and identifying opportunities to protect or improve crop yield and quality through pollination management is therefore of international importance. To explore the extent of 'pollination deficits', where maximum yield is not being achieved due to insufficient pollination, we use an extensive dataset on a globally important crop, apples. We quantified how these deficits vary between orchards and countries as well as compare 'pollinator dependence' across different apple... (More)

Pollinators face multiple pressures and there is evidence of populations in decline. As demand for insect-pollinated crops increases, crop production is threatened by shortfalls in pollination services. Understanding the extent of current yield deficits due to pollination and identifying opportunities to protect or improve crop yield and quality through pollination management is therefore of international importance. To explore the extent of 'pollination deficits', where maximum yield is not being achieved due to insufficient pollination, we use an extensive dataset on a globally important crop, apples. We quantified how these deficits vary between orchards and countries as well as compare 'pollinator dependence' across different apple varieties. We found evidence of pollination deficits and in some cases, risks of over-pollination were even apparent where fruit quality could be reduced by too much pollination. In almost all regions studied we found some orchards performing significantly better than others, in terms of avoiding a pollination deficit and crop yield shortfalls due to sub-optimal pollination. This represents an opportunity to improve production through better pollinator and crop management. Our findings also demonstrate that pollinator dependence varies considerably between apple varieties in terms of fruit number and fruit quality. We propose that assessments of pollination service and deficits in crops can be used to quantify supply and demand for pollinators and help target local management to address deficits although crop variety has a strong influence on the role of pollinators.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Ecological Applications
article number
e02445
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85117305976
  • pmid:34448315
ISSN
1051-0761
DOI
10.1002/eap.2445
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d0337b39-9eb4-4f6b-a13b-400e259fd58d
date added to LUP
2021-09-03 13:32:32
date last changed
2025-03-23 19:21:06
@article{d0337b39-9eb4-4f6b-a13b-400e259fd58d,
  abstract     = {{<p>Pollinators face multiple pressures and there is evidence of populations in decline. As demand for insect-pollinated crops increases, crop production is threatened by shortfalls in pollination services. Understanding the extent of current yield deficits due to pollination and identifying opportunities to protect or improve crop yield and quality through pollination management is therefore of international importance. To explore the extent of 'pollination deficits', where maximum yield is not being achieved due to insufficient pollination, we use an extensive dataset on a globally important crop, apples. We quantified how these deficits vary between orchards and countries as well as compare 'pollinator dependence' across different apple varieties. We found evidence of pollination deficits and in some cases, risks of over-pollination were even apparent where fruit quality could be reduced by too much pollination. In almost all regions studied we found some orchards performing significantly better than others, in terms of avoiding a pollination deficit and crop yield shortfalls due to sub-optimal pollination. This represents an opportunity to improve production through better pollinator and crop management. Our findings also demonstrate that pollinator dependence varies considerably between apple varieties in terms of fruit number and fruit quality. We propose that assessments of pollination service and deficits in crops can be used to quantify supply and demand for pollinators and help target local management to address deficits although crop variety has a strong influence on the role of pollinators.</p>}},
  author       = {{Garratt, Michael P D and de Groot, G A and Albrecht, Matthias and Bosch, Jordi and Breeze, Tom D and Fountain, Michelle T and Klein, Alex M and McKerchar, Megan and Park, M and Paxton, Robert J and Potts, Simon G and Pufal, Gesine and Rader, Romina and Senapathi, Grace D and Andersson, Georg K S and Bernauer, Olivia M and Blitzer, Eleanor J and Boreux, Virginie and Campbell, Alistair and Carvell, Claire and Földesi, Rita and García, Daniel and Garibaldi, Lucas A. and Hambäck, Peter A and Kirkitadze, Giorgi and Kovács-Hostyánszki, Aniko and Martins, Kyle T and Miñarro, Marcos and O'Connor, Rory and Radzeviciute, Rita and Roquer-Beni, Laura and Samnegård, Ulrika and Scott, Lorraine and Vereecken, Nicolas J and Wäckers, Felix and Webber, Sean and Japoshvili, George and Zhusupbaeva, Aigul}},
  issn         = {{1051-0761}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Ecological Applications}},
  title        = {{Opportunities to reduce pollination deficits and address production shortfalls in an important insect pollinated crop}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.2445}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/eap.2445}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}