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Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Henrik Smith

Professor

Portrait of Henrik Smith. Photo.

Meta-analysis reveals that pollinator functional diversity and abundance enhance crop pollination and yield

Author

  • B. A. Woodcock
  • M. P.D. Garratt
  • G. D. Powney
  • R. F. Shaw
  • J. L. Osborne
  • J. Soroka
  • S. A.M. Lindström
  • D. Stanley
  • P. Ouvrard
  • M. E. Edwards
  • F. Jauker
  • M. E. McCracken
  • Y. Zou
  • S. G. Potts
  • M. Rundlöf
  • J. A. Noriega
  • A. Greenop
  • H. G. Smith
  • R. Bommarco
  • W. van der Werf
  • J. C. Stout
  • I. Steffan-Dewenter
  • L. Morandin
  • J. M. Bullock
  • R. F. Pywell
Show all

Summary, in English

How insects promote crop pollination remains poorly understood in terms of the contribution of functional trait differences between species. We used meta-analyses to test for correlations between community abundance, species richness and functional trait metrics with oilseed rape yield, a globally important crop. While overall abundance is consistently important in predicting yield, functional divergence between species traits also showed a positive correlation. This result supports the complementarity hypothesis that pollination function is maintained by non-overlapping trait distributions. In artificially constructed communities (mesocosms), species richness is positively correlated with yield, although this effect is not seen under field conditions. As traits of the dominant species do not predict yield above that attributed to the effect of abundance alone, we find no evidence in support of the mass ratio hypothesis. Management practices increasing not just pollinator abundance, but also functional divergence, could benefit oilseed rape agriculture.

Department/s

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

Publishing year

2019

Language

English

Publication/Series

Nature Communications

Volume

10

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Ecology

Status

Published

Research group

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2041-1723