scholarly journals On the inconsistency of pollinator species traits for predicting either response to agricultural intensification or functional contribution

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignasi Bartomeus ◽  
Daniel P. Cariveau ◽  
Tina Harrison ◽  
Rachael Winfree
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Crop Pollination ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Species Response ◽  
Pollination Systems

AbstractThe response and effect trait framework, if supported empirically, would provide for powerful and general predictions about how biodiversity loss will lead to loss in ecosystem function. This framework proposes that species traits will explain how different species respond to disturbance (i.e. response traits) as well as their contribution to ecosystem function (i.e. effect traits). However, predictive response and effect traits remain elusive for most systems. Here, we present detailed data on crop pollination services provided by native, wild bees to explore the role of six commonly used species traits in determining how crop pollination is affected by increasing agricultural intensification. Analyses were conducted in parallel for three crop systems (watermelon, cranberry, and blueberry) located within the same geographical region (mid-Atlantic USA). Bee species traits did not strongly predict species’ response to agricultural intensification, and the few traits that were weakly predictive were not consistent across crops. Similarly, no trait predicted species’ overall functional contribution in any of the three crop systems, although body size was a good predictor of per capita efficiency in two systems. So far, most studies looking for response or effect traits in pollination systems have found weak and often contradicting links. Overall we were unable to make generalizable predictions regarding species responses to land-use change and its effect on the delivery of ecosystem services. Pollinator traits may be useful for understanding ecological processes in some systems, but thus far the promise of traits-based ecology has yet to be fulfilled for pollination ecology.

scholarly journals Checklist of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from small diversified vegetable farms in south-western Montana

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey Delphia ◽  
Terry Griswold ◽  
Elizabeth Reese ◽  
Kevin O'Neill ◽  
Laura Burkle
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Western Montana ◽  
Crop Pollination ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Species List ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Wildflower Strips ◽  
Pollination Systems

Over three years (2013-2015), we sampled bees using nets and bowl traps on four diversified vegetable farms in Gallatin County, Montana, USA, as part of a study evaluating the use of wildflower strips for supporting wild bees and crop pollination services on farmlands (Delphia et al. In prep). We document 202 species and morphospecies from 32 genera within five families, of which 25 species represent the first published state records for Montana. This study increases our overall understanding of the distribution of wild bee species associated with agroecosystems of the northern US Rockies, which is important for efforts aimed at conserving bee biodiversity and supporting sustainable crop pollination systems on farmlands.We provide a species list of wild bees associated with diversified farmlands in Montana and increase the number of published bee species records in the state from 374 to at least 399. The list includes new distributional records for 25 wild bee species, including two species that represent considerable expansions of their known ranges, Lasioglossum (Dialictus) clematisellum (Cockerell 1904) with previously published records from New Mexico, Arizona, California and Utah and Melissodes (Eumelissodes) niveus Robertson 1895 which was reported to range from New York to Minnesota and Kansas, south to North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.

scholarly journals Delivery of crop pollination services is an insufficient argument for wild pollinator conservation

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kleijn ◽  
Rachael Winfree ◽  
Ignasi Bartomeus ◽  
Luísa G Carvalheiro ◽  
Mickaël Henry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Crop Pollination ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Bee Communities

Abstract There is compelling evidence that more diverse ecosystems deliver greater benefits to people, and these ecosystem services have become a key argument for biodiversity conservation. However, it is unclear how much biodiversity is needed to deliver ecosystem services in a cost-effective way. Here we show that, while the contribution of wild bees to crop production is significant, service delivery is restricted to a limited subset of all known bee species. Across crops, years and biogeographical regions, crop-visiting wild bee communities are dominated by a small number of common species, and threatened species are rarely observed on crops. Dominant crop pollinators persist under agricultural expansion and many are easily enhanced by simple conservation measures, suggesting that cost-effective management strategies to promote crop pollination should target a different set of species than management strategies to promote threatened bees. Conserving the biological diversity of bees therefore requires more than just ecosystem-service-based arguments.

scholarly journals Large-scale trade-off between agricultural intensification and crop pollination services

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 212-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Deguines ◽  
Clémentine Jono ◽  
Mathilde Baude ◽  
Mickaël Henry ◽  
Romain Julliard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Crop Pollination ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Trade Off

Are local losses of biodiversity causing degraded ecosystem function?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Degraded Ecosystem ◽  
Biodiversity Change ◽  
Local Extirpation

This chapter highlights the scale dependence of biodiversity change over time and its consequences for arguments about the instrumental value of biodiversity. While biodiversity is in decline on a global scale, the temporal trends on regional and local scales include cases of biodiversity increase, no change, and decline. Environmental change, anthropogenic or otherwise, causes both local extirpation and colonization of species, and thus turnover in species composition, but not necessarily declines in biodiversity. In some situations, such as plants at the regional scale, human-mediated colonizations have greatly outnumbered extinctions, thus causing a marked increase in species richness. Since the potential influence of biodiversity on ecosystem function and services is mediated to a large degree by local or neighborhood species interactions, these results challenge the generality of the argument that biodiversity loss is putting at risk the ecosystem service benefits people receive from nature.

scholarly journals Standing deadwood for keystone bird species in the eastern boreal forest: Managing for snag dynamics

2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Drapeau ◽  
Antoine Nappi ◽  
Louis Imbeau ◽  
Michel Saint-Germain
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Keystone Species ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Forestry Practices ◽  
Tree Retention ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
Managed Landscapes

Extensive even-aged management of the boreal forest and its consequences on the loss of late-seral stages (>100 years) is raising concerns about the future of organisms associated with standing deadwood. The considerable reduction of deadwood not only at the stand but at the landscape level is considered to be one of the principal causes of biodiversity loss in managed forest ecosystems worldwide. Ecosystem-oriented management approaches propose a fundamental change in forestry practices whereby live and dead tree retention becomes an important consideration in forest harvesting. We use woodpecker assemblages and their association with standing deadwood for both nesting and foraging to emphasize the importance of the entire range of snag degradation stages for maintenance of key ecological processes in habitat remnants of managed landscapes. We argue that bridging foraging and nesting knowledge of woodpecker’s snag requirements can refine conservation objectives for deadwood retention in the boreal forest. Key words: deadwood, woodpeckers, hole-nesting community, late-seral forests, keystone species, foraging and nesting tree requirements, food webs, nest webs, snag management

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