Abstract
Low plant species richness and abundance, as well as contamination, can lead to a lack of nutrients in the diets of pollinators. This can cause increased oxidative stress, low resistance to disease and reduced detoxification ability. We proposed three forage mixtures with different botanical compositions, all of which should provide continuous forage for a wide range of pollinators. The monitored mixtures were treated by foliar application with selenium and zinc. Both elements should increase the quality of pollen and nectar. The effect of meadow mixtures and microelements on pollinator abundance, richness, and preference was evaluated using data obtained via the line transect method. Furthermore, the amount of selenium and zinc in the flowers was determined. It was found that the microelement treatment did not have any effect on the abundance and richness of the main pollinator taxa, which were affected only by a botanical composition of meadow mixtures. However, a preference for zinc-treated forage was observed in Apis mellifera, and a preference for selenium-treated forage was observed in Bombus spp. These two eusocial taxa appear to respond to an increased amount of microelements in the treated meadow mixtures. On the contrary, Lepidoptera was tied to untreated forage, where they were probably pushed by social bee species due to the competition.
Highlights
The plant–pollinator relationship is important for maintaining biodiversity on Earth [1]
The highest taxon richness was observed with meadow mixture a (Figure 3)
The richness and abundance of the main pollinator taxa were not significantly affected by the foliar application of microelements. They were affected by the botanical composition of forage in individual meadow mixtures
Summary
The plant–pollinator relationship is important for maintaining biodiversity on Earth [1]. Increasing agricultural intensification with the growth of the human population results in drastic changes to the landscape. This leads to a decline in the diversity and availability of pollinators’ food resources [6,7]. This decrease in the diversity and abundance of entomophilic flowering plants causes reduced diversity and availability of macro- and microelements in pollinator nutrition [8], to which insect pollinators are very sensitive [9,10]. Inadequate nutrition may cause increased vulnerability to diseases [15,16], greater susceptibility to pesticides [17], and in the end decrease the diversity and abundance of pollinators [18,19]
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