Impact of local practices and landscape on the diversity and abundance of pollinators in an insect-dependent crop

Abstract

Insects are a functionally diverse group, with economically relevant roles on key ecosystem services, such as pollination. The current trend of biodiversity loss and consequent degradation of ecosystem services delivered by insects is leading to additional pressure on modern agriculture, particularly in crops that depend on insects for pollination. Understanding how insect pollinator diversity varies at local and landscape scales is very important to recognize trends in pollinator populations. The present work quantified the effect of in-field management practices and different landscape types on insect pollinator communities in kiwifruit, a pollinator-dependent crop. Twenty-two orchards were selected and characterized for in-field practices, landscape structure, plant-pollinator interactions, and productivity. We observed that orchards with practices that are less harmful to insect pollinators are related to a higher pollinator diversity and higher abundances of certain wild pollinator groups, although this was not related with increased productivity. Additionally, in the studied production region, agricultural dominated landscapes harbor lower pollinator diversity, lower wild pollinators abundance and higher managed honeybee abundance than forest and herbaceous dominated landscapes, but no differences were detected in productivity among landscape types. In turn, abundance of Bombus spp. and the use of pollination support practices were significantly and positively correlated with orchard productivity. Despite the differences in pollinator communities, comparable yields were observed across different landscape types. Additionally, simple changes towards less harmful agricultural practices and the presence of forest and herbaceous habitats can promote wild pollinators and respective pollination services.