The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Lina Herbertsson. Photo.

Lina Herbertsson

Researcher

Lina Herbertsson. Photo.

Bees increase seed set of wild plants while the proportion of arable land has a variable effect on pollination in European agricultural landscapes

Author

  • Lina Herbertsson
  • Johan Ekroos
  • Matthias Albrecht
  • Ignasi Bartomeus
  • Péter Batáry
  • Riccardo Bommarco
  • Paul Caplat
  • Tim Diekötter
  • Jenny M. Eikestam
  • Martin H. Entling
  • Sunniva Farbu
  • Nina Farwig
  • Juan P. Gonzalez-Varo
  • Annika L. Hass
  • Andrea Holzschuh
  • Sebastian Hopfenmüller
  • Anna Jakobsson
  • Birgit Jauker
  • Anikó Kovács-Hostyánszki
  • Wera Kleve
  • William E. Kunin
  • Sandra A.M. Lindström
  • Sarah Mullen
  • Erik Öckinger
  • Theodora Petanidou
  • Simon G. Potts
  • Eileen F. Power
  • Maj Rundlöf
  • Kathrin Seibel
  • Virve Sõber
  • Annika Söderman
  • Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
  • Jane C. Stout
  • Tiit Teder
  • Teja Tscharntke
  • Henrik G. Smith
Show all

Summary, in English

Background and aims – Agricultural intensification and loss of farmland heterogeneity have contributed to population declines of wild bees and other pollinators, which may have caused subsequent declines in insect-pollinated wild plants. Material and methods – Using data from 37 studies on 22 pollinator-dependent wild plant species across Europe, we investigated whether flower visitation and seed set of insect-pollinated plants decline with an increasing proportion of arable land within 1 km. Key results – Seed set increased with increasing flower visitation by bees, most of which were wild bees, but not with increasing flower visitation by other insects. Increasing proportion of arable land had a strongly variable effect on seed set and flower visitation by bees across studies. Conclusion – Factors such as landscape configuration, local habitat quality, and temporally changing resource availability (e.g. due to mass-flowering crops or honey bee hives) could have modified the effect of arable land on pollination. While our results highlight that the persistence of wild bees is crucial to maintain plant diversity, we also show that pollen limitation due to declining bee populations in homogenized agricultural landscapes is not a universal driver causing parallel losses of bees and insect-pollinated plants.

Department/s

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

Publishing year

2021

Language

English

Pages

341-350

Publication/Series

Plant Ecology and Evolution

Volume

154

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Societe Royale de Botanique de Belgique

Topic

  • Ecology

Keywords

  • Habitat loss
  • Landscape complexity
  • Landscape simplification
  • Pollinating insects
  • Pollination
  • Semi-natural

Status

Published

Research group

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2032-3913