scholarly journals Linking pollinator occurrence in field margins to pollinator visitation to a mass-flowering crop

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 153-166
Author(s):  
Marjaana Toivonen ◽  
Irina Herzon ◽  
Jenni Toikkanen ◽  
Mikko Kuussaari
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Field Margins ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Mass Flowering ◽  
Pollinator Abundance ◽  
Management Approaches

Uncultivated field margins are important refugia for pollinating insects in agricultural landscapes. However, the spill-over of pollination services from field margins to adjacent crops is poorly understood. This study (i) examined the effects of landscape heterogeneity on pollinator occurrence in permanent field margins and pollinator visitation to adjacent mass-flowering turnip rape (Brassica rapa ssp. oleifera) in boreal agricultural landscapes, and (ii) tested whether pollinator abundance and species richness in field margins predict abundance and species richness of crop visitors. Pollinators visiting the crop were more affected by landscape heterogeneity than pollinators in adjacent margins. Species richness, total abundance, and the abundance of syrphid flies visiting the crop increased with increasing landscape heterogeneity, whereas, in field margins, landscape heterogeneity had little effect on pollinators. In field-dominated homogeneous landscapes, wild pollinators rarely visited the crop even if they occurred in adjacent margins, whereas in heterogeneous landscapes, differences between the two habitats were smaller. Total pollinator abundance and species richness in field margins were poor predictors of pollinator visitation to adjacent crop. However, high abundances of honeybees and bumblebees in margins were related to high numbers of crop visitors from these taxa. Our results suggest that, while uncultivated field margins help pollinators persist in boreal agricultural landscapes, they do not always result in enhanced pollinator visitation to the adjacent crop. More studies quantifying pollination service delivery from semi-natural habitats to crops in different landscape settings will help develop management approaches to support crop pollination. 

scholarly journals Family graveyards form underappreciated local plant diversity hotspots in China's agricultural landscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Gong ◽  
Liangtao Li ◽  
Jan C. Axmarcher ◽  
Zhenrong Yu ◽  
Yunhui Liu
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Habitat Islands ◽  
Local Plant ◽  
Ecological Functioning

AbstractIn the intensively farmed, homogenous agricultural landscape of the North China Plain, family graveyards form distinct cultural landscape features. In addition to their cultural value, these graveyards represent semi-natural habitat islands whose potential roles in biodiversity conservation and ecological functioning has remained poorly understood. In this study, we investigated plant species richness on 199 family graveyards of different ages and sizes. In accordance with biogeography theory, both overall and insect-pollinated plant species richness increased with area and age of graveyards. Even small graveyards show a strong potential for conserving local plant richness, and a mosaic of both large and small family graveyards could play an important role in the conservation of farmland biodiversity and related ecosystem functions. The launch of agri-environmental measures that conserve and create semi-natural habitats, in turn benefitting agricultural biodiversity and ecological functioning, has proven difficult in China due to the shortage of dispensable arable land. Given the great value of family graveyards as semi-natural habitats reflected in our study, we propose to focus preliminary efforts on conserving these landscape features as existing, widespread and culturally important semi-natural habitat islands. This would represent an effective, complementary policy to a subsequent re-establishment of other semi-natural habitats for the conservation of biodiversity and ecological functioning in agricultural landscapes.

scholarly journals Improving Habitat Quality at the Local and Landscape Scales Increases Wild Bee Assemblages and Associated Pollination Services in Apple Orchards in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panlong Wu ◽  
Piaopiao Dai ◽  
Meina Wang ◽  
Sijie Feng ◽  
Aruhan Olhnuud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Wild Bees ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Wild Bee ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Bee Diversity ◽  
Landscape Scales

Bees provide key pollination services for a wide range of crops. Accumulating evidence shows the effect of semi-natural habitats at the landscape level and local management practices on bee diversity in fields. However, most of the evidence is derived from studies in North America and Europe. Whether this paradigm is applicable in China, which is characterized by smallholder-dominated agricultural landscapes, has rarely been studied. In this study, we aimed to investigate how bee diversity affected apple production, and how landscape and local variables affected bee diversity and species composition on the Northern China Plain. The results showed that bees significantly increased apple fruit set compared to bagged controls. Wild bee diversity was positively related to apple seed numbers. Higher seed numbers reduced the proportion of deformed apples and thus increased fruit quality. Wild bee abundance was positively correlated with flowering ground cover, and both the abundance and species richness of wild bees were positively affected by the percentage of semi-natural habitats. We conclude that apple quality can benefit from ecological intensification comprising the augmentation of wild bees by semi-natural habitats and flowering ground cover. Future pollination management should therefore reduce the intensification level of management at both the local and landscape scales.

scholarly journals The relative importance of pollinator abundance and species richness for the temporal variance of pollination services

Ecology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (7) ◽  
pp. 1807-1816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Genung ◽  
Jeremy Fox ◽  
Neal M. Williams ◽  
Claire Kremen ◽  
John Ascher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Pollinator Abundance ◽  
Temporal Variance

scholarly journals Mass‐flowering crops dilute pollinator abundance in agricultural landscapes across Europe

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 1228-1236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Holzschuh ◽  
Matteo Dainese ◽  
Juan P. González‐Varo ◽  
Sonja Mudri‐Stojnić ◽  
Verena Riedinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Mass Flowering ◽  
Pollinator Abundance

scholarly journals Optimizing Species Richness in Mosaic Landscapes: A Probabilistic Model of Species-Area Relationships

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ola Olsson ◽  
Mark V. Brady ◽  
Martin Stjernman ◽  
Henrik G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Optimal Allocation ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Average Density ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Total Size ◽  
Α Diversity ◽  
Species Area

Most landscapes are comprised of multiple habitat types differing in the biodiversity they contain. This is certainly true for human modified landscapes, which are often a mix of habitats managed with different intensity, semi-natural habitats and even pristine habitats. To understand fundamental questions of how the composition of such landscapes affects biodiversity conservation, and to evaluate biodiversity consequences of policies that affect the composition of landscapes, there is a need for models able to translate information on biodiversity from individual habitats to landscape-wide predictions. However, this is complicated by species richness not being additive. We constructed a model to help analyze and solve this problem based on two simple assumptions. Firstly, that a habitat can be characterized by the biological community inhabiting it; i.e., which species occur and at what densities. Secondly, that the probability of a species occurring in a particular unit of land is dictated by its average density in the associated habitats, its spatial aggregation, and the size of the land unit. This model leads to a multidimensional species-area relation (one dimension per habitat). If the goal is to maximize species diversity at the landscape scale (γ-diversity), within a fixed area or under a limited budget, the model can be used to find the optimal allocation of the different habitats. In general, the optimal solution depends on the total size of the species pool of the different habitats, but also their similarity (β-diversity). If habitats are complementary (high β), a mix is usually preferred, even if one habitat is poorer (lower α diversity in one habitat). The model lends itself to economic analyses of biodiversity problems, without the need to monetarize biodiversity value, i.e., cost-effectiveness analysis. Land prices and management costs will affect the solution, such that the model can be used to estimate the number of species gained in relation to expenditure on each habitat. We illustrate the utility of the model by applying it to agricultural landscapes in southern Sweden and demonstrate how empirical monitoring data can be used to find the best habitat allocation for biodiversity conservation within and between landscapes.

scholarly journals Taxon-specific temporal shifts in pollinating insects in mass-flowering crops and field margins in Ireland

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 90-107
Author(s):  
Irene Bottero ◽  
Simon Hodge ◽  
Jane Stout
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Field Margins ◽  
Flowering Period ◽  
Field Margin ◽  
Mass Flowering ◽  
Insect Abundance ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Pollinating Insects ◽  
Hover Flies

In intensively cropped agricultural landscapes, the vegetation in edges and hedges (henceforth “field margins”) represents an important semi-natural habitat providing fundamental resources for insect pollinators. We surveyed the pollinating insects associated with two mass-flowering crops, apple and oilseed rape, and compared the insect fauna of the main crop with that in the field margins in the grass-dominated agricultural landscapes of Ireland. Different insect groups responded differently to the presence of the flowering crop, with honey and bumble bees more abundant in crops than margins during crop flowering, but more hover flies and butterflies in margins throughout. The composition of the insect assemblage also shifted over time due to taxon-specific changes in abundance. For example, solitary bees were most abundant early in the season, whereas hover flies peaked, and butterflies declined, in mid-summer. The temporal shift in insect community structure was associated with parallel changes in the field margin flora, and, although we found no relationship between insect abundance and abundance of field margin flowers, Bombus abundance and total insect abundance were positively correlated with floral diversity. After the crop flowering period, floral abundance and diversity was maintained via margin plants, but by late summer, floral resources declined. Our results confirm the importance of field margins for insect pollinators of entomophilous crops set within grass-dominated landscapes, even during the crop flowering period, and provide additional support for agri-environment schemes that protect and/or improve field margin biodiversity. The results also demonstrate that although shifts in insect and plant communities may be linked phenologically there may not always be simple relationships between insect and floral abundance and richness. 

Contribution of the Cerrado as Habitat for Sunflower Pollinating Bees

Sociobiology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 281
Author(s):  
Mayra Layra Santos Almeida ◽  
Gabriel Santos Carvalho ◽  
Júlia Rodrigues Novais ◽  
Danielle Storck Tonon ◽  
Márcio Luiz Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Sunflower Crop ◽  
Bee Diversity ◽  
Floral Visitors ◽  
Pan Traps

Agricultural landscapes sometimes include natural habitats which can support the ecosystem by enhancing the pollination of crops, thus boosting the productivity. This research was conducted between May and July 2017, in the municipality of Tangará da Serra, Mato Grosso, Brazil, to assess the Cerrado from the perspective of it being a crucial habitat to sustain the sunflower-pollinating bees (Helianthus annuus L.). The bees were sampled using entomological nets and pan traps, in specifically marked out plots (20 m x 150 m), in the Cerrado, and in a sunflower crop, at different distances from the Cerrado border. The assessment was done in terms of the composion and species richness, abundance of individuals and the mass (g) of the sunflower chapters exposed and isolated from the floral visitors. While species richness showed no differences between the Cerrado and sunflower crop, a difference was observed for abundance, with more numbers of individuals in the sunflower crop, most likely because of the food source supply. In the sunflower crop, the bee diversity decreased proportionally as the distance from the border increased. The seed mass of the sunfl ower chapters was significantly higher in the flowers open to visitors than in those of the isolated chapters open for visitation. From the results, it was evident that the bees presente in the Cerrado visit the sunflower crop to gather pollen and nectar, and thus assist in cross-pollinating them and raising the productivity.

The Bee Community of Cannabis sativa and Corresponding Effects of Landscape Composition

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-202
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Ryan Flicker ◽  
Katja Poveda ◽  
Heather Grab
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Cannabis Sativa ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Flowering Phenology ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Pollination Services

Abstract Industrial hemp, Cannabis sativa (Cannabaceae), is a newly introduced and rapidly expanding crop in the American agricultural landscape. As an exclusively wind-pollinated crop, hemp lacks nectar but produces an abundance of pollen during a period of floral dearth in agricultural landscapes. These pollen resources are attractive to a range of bee species but the diversity of floral visitors and their use of hemp across a range of agricultural contexts remains unclear. We made repeated sweep net collections of bees visiting hemp flowers on farms in New York, which varied in both landscape context and phenotypic traits of hemp varieties. We identified all bee visitors to the species level and found that hemp supported 16 different bee species. Landscape simplification negatively impacted the abundance of bees visiting hemp flowers but did not affect the species richness of the community. Plant height, on the other hand, was strongly correlated with bee species richness and abundance for hemp plots with taller varieties attracting a broader diversity of bee species. Because of its temporally unique flowering phenology, hemp has the potential to provide a critical nutritional resource to a diverse community of bees during a period of floral scarcity and thereby may help to sustain agroecosystem-wide pollination services for other crops in the landscape. As cultivation of hemp increases, growers, land managers, and policy makers should consider its value in supporting bee communities and take its attractiveness to bees into account when developing pest management strategies.

scholarly journals The effect of Agricultural Landscape Type on Field Margin Flora in South Eastern Poland

2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Wrzesień ◽  
Bożena Denisow
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Detrended Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Plant Species Diversity ◽  
Field Margins ◽  
Landscape Type

Abstract Plant species diversity is threatened in many agricultural landscapes due to the changes it has to undergo. Although the modification of the agricultural landscape pattern is observed across Europe, both extensive and intensive agricultural landscapes still co-exist in Poland. The objective of the study was to examine the flora in field margins in intensively and extensively managed agricultural landscapes, located across three regions in SE Poland. The flora was compared with respect to species richness, diversity, and evenness indices. Detrended correspondence analysis was employed to characterise variation in species composition. Agricultural landscape type made a higher contribution than the topography or geology to species richness and composition in field margins. Field margins function as important habitats for general vascular plant species diversity and are useful for the conservation of rare, threatened, endangered or bee plants. A significant decline in species diversity was observed over a distance of 1000 m from the habitat elements. Plants growing on field margins are mainly perennials; however participation of annuals clearly increases in intensive landscapes. The participation of wind-dispersed species decreased in an open-spaced intensive landscape. Animal-dispersed plants predominated in an extensive landscape with forest islands. Irrespective of landscape type, native species predominated. However, these habitats create the biota and corridors for alien-invasive species as well.

scholarly journals The distribution of the surface-active beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Elateridae) in the agricultural landscapes of Northwestern Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 00014
Author(s):  
Olga G. Guseva ◽  
Alexander G. Koval
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Perennial Grass ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Field Margins ◽  
Litter Layer ◽  
Surface Active ◽  
Epigeic Beetles ◽  
Hygrophilous Species ◽  
Northwestern Russia

This paper demonstrates that the species composition of the surface-active beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Elateridae) in the landscape site is determined by its local crop. The hygrophilous species are most common in areas with dense vegetation. Assemblages of the epigeic beetles in fields of different crops and adjacent habitats (field margins overgrown with shrubs and forbs) are separated from each other. Beetles associated with a leaf litter layer dominate on the field margins, while rarely occurring in the fields. The populations of the surface-active beetles in perennial grass fields and field margins have the highest species richness.

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