Farmland drives away pollinating insects, according to a study
Published: Friday, May 24th 2024, 10:40
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In intensively farmed landscapes, flowering plants are visited less frequently by pollinators. This can have consequences for biodiversity, pollination and the yield of agricultural crops, as a new study shows.
If the proportion of arable crops in a landscape increases from 30 to 80 percent, 20 percent of the species of pollinating insects will be lost, as the Agroscope Federal Competence Center for Agricultural Research reported on Friday. As a result, the number of plant-pollinator interactions also decreases.
To find this out, the Agroscope researchers examined landscapes in Germany, France and Switzerland. In total, the study published in the journal "Diversity and Distributions" included data from over 60 species of hoverflies, 190 bee species and 380 flowering plants.
Generalists make the system more robust
According to Agroscope, the decline in flower-insect interactions was partially offset by the most common five percent of species. According to the study, these were so-called generalists in particular. These are species that are not dependent on a specific plant, but visit a wide range of plants. These included honeybees and bumblebees, for example.
According to the study, these species were less affected by changes to the landscape. Nevertheless, flowering plants in heavily farmed landscapes were visited less frequently by pollinator insects overall.
Most wild plants and many crops are dependent on the pollination services of insects. It is therefore important that pollination systems, which are based on a complex interaction between pollinator insects and plants, remain efficient and resilient, Agroscope emphasized. According to Agroscope, possible measures include, for example, biodiversity promotion areas.
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