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Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Henrik Smith

Professor

Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Mass-flowering crops dilute pollinator abundance in agricultural landscapes across Europe

Author

  • Andrea Holzschuh
  • Matteo Dainese
  • Juan P. González-Varo
  • Sonja Mudri-Stojnić
  • Verena Riedinger
  • Maj Rundlöf
  • Jeroen Scheper
  • Jennifer B. Wickens
  • Victoria J. Wickens
  • Riccardo Bommarco
  • David Kleijn
  • Simon G. Potts
  • Stuart P M Roberts
  • Henrik G. Smith
  • Montserrat Vilà
  • Ante Vujić
  • Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
Show all

Summary, in English

Mass-flowering crops (MFCs) are increasingly cultivated and might influence pollinator communities in MFC fields and nearby semi-natural habitats (SNHs). Across six European regions and 2 years, we assessed how landscape-scale cover of MFCs affected pollinator densities in 408 MFC fields and adjacent SNHs. In MFC fields, densities of bumblebees, solitary bees, managed honeybees and hoverflies were negatively related to the cover of MFCs in the landscape. In SNHs, densities of bumblebees declined with increasing cover of MFCs but densities of honeybees increased. The densities of all pollinators were generally unrelated to the cover of SNHs in the landscape. Although MFC fields apparently attracted pollinators from SNHs, in landscapes with large areas of MFCs they became diluted. The resulting lower densities might negatively affect yields of pollinator-dependent crops and the reproductive success of wild plants. An expansion of MFCs needs to be accompanied by pollinator-supporting practices in agricultural landscapes.

Department/s

  • Biodiversity
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

Publishing year

2016

Language

English

Pages

1228-1236

Publication/Series

Ecology Letters

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
  • Ecology

Keywords

  • Agri-environment schemes
  • Agricultural intensification
  • Biofuels
  • Crop pollination
  • Ecosystem services
  • Field boundaries
  • Landscape composition
  • Non-crop habitats
  • Semi-natural habitats
  • Spillover

Status

Published

Research group

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1461-023X