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

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 KleveWilliam 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

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)341-350
Number of pages10
JournalPlant Ecology and Evolution
Volume154
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Carole Chateil, Volker Gaebele, Emmanuelle Porcher, and Marie Winsa for data contribution; Yann Clough and Peter Olsson for help on analyses and extraction of landscape data. The original idea was conceived as part of the project ?STEP-Status and trends of European pollinators? funded by the European Union in the 7th Framework Programme (grant 244090), which funded RB, ISD, HGS, SP, MR, LH, JME, and KS. JE and PC were funded by MULTAGRI/FORMAS. MA was funded by the EU FP5 project ?Evaluating current European agri-environment schemes to quantify and improve nature conservation efforts in agricultural landscapes? (EASY; QLRT-2001-01495) and the Swiss Federal Office for Science and Technology (01?0524-2). AJ and E? were funded by FORMAS. TTe and VS were supported by institutional research funding IUT (IUT20-33) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, and TTe also received funding (grant no. 42900/1312/3166) from the Internal Grant Agency of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. IB was funded by MC-CIG BeeFun project: PCIG14-GA-2013-631653 and thanks the Do?ana NP staff members for granting access to the Park and Curro Molina for conducting the field work. JS, EFP, and SM were funded by DAFM and IRC. LH was funded by a grant from Formas to HGS and by a mobility grant from Formas (2018-01466). ALH was funded by the FarmLand project supported by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ: 01LC1104A). AKH was supported by the NKFIH project (FK123813) and was a Bolyai Fellow of MTA. PB was supported by the NKFIH (KKP 133839).

Funding Information:
We thank Carole Chateil, Volker Gaebele, Emmanuelle Porcher, and Marie Winsa for data contribution; Yann Clough and Peter Olsson for help on analyses and extraction of landscape data. The original idea was conceived as part of the project ‘STEP - Status and trends of European pollinators’ funded by the European Union in the 7th Framework Programme (grant 244090), which funded RB, ISD, HGS, SP, MR, LH, JME, and KS. JE and PC were funded by MULTAGRI/FORMAS. MA was funded by the EU FP5 project ‘Evaluating current European agri-environment schemes to quantify and improve nature conservation efforts in agricultural landscapes’ (EASY; QLRT-2001-01495) and the Swiss Federal Office for Science and Technology (01·0524-2). AJ and EÖ were funded by FORMAS. TTe and VS were supported by institutional research funding IUT (IUT20-33) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, and TTe also received funding (grant no. 42900/1312/3166) from the Internal Grant Agency of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. IB was funded by MC-CIG BeeFun project: PCIG14-GA-2013-631653 and thanks the Doñana NP staff members for granting access to the Park and Curro Molina for conducting the field work. JS, EFP, and SM were funded by DAFM and IRC. LH was funded by a grant from Formas to HGS and by a mobility grant from Formas (2018-01466). ALH was funded by the FarmLand project supported by the German Ministry of Research and Education (FKZ: 01LC1104A). AKH was supported by the NKFIH project (FK123813) and was a Bolyai Fellow of MTA. PB was supported by the NKFIH (KKP 133839).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 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 Seibe, Virve Sõber, Annika Söderman, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Jane C. Stout, Tiit Teder, Teja Tscharntke, Henrik G. Smith.

Keywords

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

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Plant Science

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