Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Does agri-environment scheme participation in England increase pollinator populations and crop pollination services?

Image, Mike ; Gardner, Emma ; Clough, Yann LU ; Smith, Henrik G. LU ; Baldock, Katherine C.R. ; Campbell, Alistair ; Garratt, Mike ; Gillespie, Mark A.K. ; Kunin, William E. and McKerchar, Megan , et al. (2022) In Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 325.
Abstract

Agri-environment schemes are programmes where landholders enter into voluntary agreements (typically with governments) to manage agricultural land for environmental protection and nature conservation objectives. Previous work at local scale has shown that these features can provide additional floral and nesting resources to support wild pollinators, which may indirectly increase floral visitation to nearby crops. However, the effect of entire schemes on this important ecosystem service has never previously been studied at national scale. Focusing on four wild pollinator guilds (ground-nesting bumblebees, tree-nesting bumblebees, ground-nesting solitary bees, and cavity-nesting solitary bees), we used a state-of-the-art, process-based... (More)

Agri-environment schemes are programmes where landholders enter into voluntary agreements (typically with governments) to manage agricultural land for environmental protection and nature conservation objectives. Previous work at local scale has shown that these features can provide additional floral and nesting resources to support wild pollinators, which may indirectly increase floral visitation to nearby crops. However, the effect of entire schemes on this important ecosystem service has never previously been studied at national scale. Focusing on four wild pollinator guilds (ground-nesting bumblebees, tree-nesting bumblebees, ground-nesting solitary bees, and cavity-nesting solitary bees), we used a state-of-the-art, process-based spatial model to examine the relationship between participation in agri-environment schemes across England during 2016 and the predicted abundances of these guilds and their visitation rates to four pollinator dependent crops (oilseed rape, field beans, orchard fruit and strawberries). Our modelling predicts that significant increases in national populations of ground-nesting bumblebees and ground-nesting solitary bees have occurred in response to the schemes. Lack of significant population increases for other guilds likely reflects specialist nesting resource requirements not well-catered for in schemes. We do not predict statistically significant increases in visitation to pollinator-dependent crops at national level as a result of scheme interventions but do predict some localised areas of significant increase in bumblebee visitation to crops flowering in late spring. Lack of any significant change in visitation to crops which flower outside this season is likely due to a combination of low provision of nesting resource relative to floral resource by scheme interventions and low overall participation in more intensively farmed landscapes. We recommend future schemes place greater importance on nesting resource provision alongside floral resource provision, better cater for the needs of specialised species and promote more contiguous patches of semi-natural habitat to better support solitary bee visitation.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agri-environment schemes, Bees, Pollination services, Semi-natural habitat
in
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
volume
325
article number
107755
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85119292410
ISSN
0167-8809
DOI
10.1016/j.agee.2021.107755
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
id
ecd52b66-820f-4511-bf93-97a2c6eb9f96
date added to LUP
2021-12-08 21:26:12
date last changed
2024-09-20 07:25:24
@article{ecd52b66-820f-4511-bf93-97a2c6eb9f96,
  abstract     = {{<p>Agri-environment schemes are programmes where landholders enter into voluntary agreements (typically with governments) to manage agricultural land for environmental protection and nature conservation objectives. Previous work at local scale has shown that these features can provide additional floral and nesting resources to support wild pollinators, which may indirectly increase floral visitation to nearby crops. However, the effect of entire schemes on this important ecosystem service has never previously been studied at national scale. Focusing on four wild pollinator guilds (ground-nesting bumblebees, tree-nesting bumblebees, ground-nesting solitary bees, and cavity-nesting solitary bees), we used a state-of-the-art, process-based spatial model to examine the relationship between participation in agri-environment schemes across England during 2016 and the predicted abundances of these guilds and their visitation rates to four pollinator dependent crops (oilseed rape, field beans, orchard fruit and strawberries). Our modelling predicts that significant increases in national populations of ground-nesting bumblebees and ground-nesting solitary bees have occurred in response to the schemes. Lack of significant population increases for other guilds likely reflects specialist nesting resource requirements not well-catered for in schemes. We do not predict statistically significant increases in visitation to pollinator-dependent crops at national level as a result of scheme interventions but do predict some localised areas of significant increase in bumblebee visitation to crops flowering in late spring. Lack of any significant change in visitation to crops which flower outside this season is likely due to a combination of low provision of nesting resource relative to floral resource by scheme interventions and low overall participation in more intensively farmed landscapes. We recommend future schemes place greater importance on nesting resource provision alongside floral resource provision, better cater for the needs of specialised species and promote more contiguous patches of semi-natural habitat to better support solitary bee visitation.</p>}},
  author       = {{Image, Mike and Gardner, Emma and Clough, Yann and Smith, Henrik G. and Baldock, Katherine C.R. and Campbell, Alistair and Garratt, Mike and Gillespie, Mark A.K. and Kunin, William E. and McKerchar, Megan and Memmott, Jane and Potts, Simon G. and Senapathi, Deepa and Stone, Graham N. and Wackers, Felix and Westbury, Duncan B. and Wilby, Andrew and Oliver, Tom H. and Breeze, Tom D.}},
  issn         = {{0167-8809}},
  keywords     = {{Agri-environment schemes; Bees; Pollination services; Semi-natural habitat}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment}},
  title        = {{Does agri-environment scheme participation in England increase pollinator populations and crop pollination services?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107755}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.agee.2021.107755}},
  volume       = {{325}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}