Henrik Smith
Professor
Organic farming improves pollination success in strawberries.
Author
Summary, in English
Pollination of insect pollinated crops has been found to be correlated to pollinator abundance and diversity. Since organic farming has the potential to mitigate negative effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity, it may also benefit crop pollination, but direct evidence of this is scant. We evaluated the effect of organic farming on pollination of strawberry plants focusing on (1) if pollination success was higher on organic farms compared to conventional farms, and (2) if there was a time lag from conversion to organic farming until an effect was manifested. We found that pollination success and the proportion of fully pollinated berries were higher on organic compared to conventional farms and this difference was already evident 2-4 years after conversion to organic farming. Our results suggest that conversion to organic farming may rapidly increase pollination success and hence benefit the ecosystem service of crop pollination regarding both yield quantity and quality.
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
2012
Language
English
Publication/Series
PLoS ONE
Volume
7
Issue
2
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Topic
- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
- Ecology
Status
Published
Project
- Effects of Farming Practice on Pollinators and Pollination across Space and Time
Research group
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1932-6203