"How landscape heterogeneity shapes bee diversity and crop pollination", Teja Tscharntke, Professor, Agroecology, University of Göttingen, Germany
Abstract: Wild bees provide essential pollination services by improving yields of many crops. Although the demand for pollination services is increasing, land-use intensification and expansion is increasingly disrupting plant-pollinator interactions. Harnessing landscape configurational and compositional heterogeneity plays a vital role for sustaining bee populations, as the species pool on the landscape level determines local patterns and processes. Maintaining bee diversity in agricultural landscapes allows for response diversity to Global Change contributing to sustaining yields. Reducing field size, intercropping and restoring natural habitat enhance floral and nesting resources of bees and further dispersal across landscapes. Crop pollination is a major ecosystem service and benefits three quarters of the main crops globally, but still, only a small minority of bee species is involved. Hence, wild bee conservation cannot focus on only biodiversity-friendly farming, but needs a broader perspective on global habitat protection.
Source: BRS series