Pollination Potential in Portugal: Leveraging an Ecosystem Service for Sustainable Agricultural Productivity

João David,Felipe S. Campos,Caroline Wentling,Pedro Cabral

doi:10.3390/land10040431

Abstract

As urbanization and agriculture increase worldwide, habitats and food sources for wild pollinators are often fragmented or destroyed. As wild pollinators contribute both resilience and variety to agricultural fields, it is desirable to implement land management practices that preserve their well-being and ability to contribute to food production systems. This study evaluates continental Portugal for its change in suitability to host bee’s pollinator species (Apis mellifera) from 1990 to 2018. It uses the InVEST crop pollination modeling tool and CORINE Land Cover, as well as parameterization to produce pollinator abundance and supply maps. These are generalized to municipality boundaries to provide actionable insights to farmers and policymakers and strengthen land management practices. It finds that the potential for pollination services is growing, with averages of both pollinator abundance and supply indices improving by 8.76% across the continental territory in 28 years. The study results are validated using another pollination index derived from a study that is based on expert opinion and field sampling in a sub-region of Portugal. This method of aggregation of model results and comparison of the percent difference by administrative boundary has the potential to better inform both policymakers and farmers about the pollination potential on a local level, as well as inspire interventions for future productivity.

Highlights

Ecosystem services are natural processes from which human benefit, whether directly or indirectly [1]
This would suggest an overall decrease in pollination seTravbilcees1.oLvaenrdtiUmsee.Land Cover (LULC) percentage by 1990 and its percent variation (PV) by 2018
The land use land cover impact on pollination services distributed over time and space was studied in the context of continental Portugal

Summary

Introduction

Ecosystem services are natural processes from which human benefit, whether directly or indirectly [1]. Because natural “capital” (i.e., trees, atmosphere, carbon, information, nourishment, etc.) and human reliance on it is difficult to quantify economically [2] its value is often discounted in policy development These services have tremendous effects on our wellbeing, resilience, and markets [3], making them a valuable addition to discussions about sustainable land management practices [4]. Though wild bees provide essential pollination services to both wild plants and crops alike [6], “agricultural intensification jeopardizes wild bee communities and their stabilizing effect on pollination services at the landscape scale” [7,8]. This type of loss has impacts on national economies. These implications on both human well-being and environmental vibrancy necessitate the utilization of models that can characterize the effects of current trends, as well as predict and evaluate potential future scenarios [11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion