Abstract
Major declines of insect pollinators are a worldwide concern. Such losses threaten human food supplies and ecosystem functions. Monocultures of pastures used to feed cattle are among the drivers of insect pollinator declines in Tropical Latin America. Plants of the legume family (fabaceae) are mostly pollinated by insects, in particular by bees. The inclusion of legumes in pastures (grass-legume system), as forage banks or the development of silvo-pastoral systems (SPS) with tree legumes, has been widely promoted to improve livestock production and soil fertility, but not to enhance ecosystem services from pollinators. Shortages of seed for the establishment of legumes as forage banks or within pastures or SPS remain a bottleneck for the improvement of ecosystem services brought about by pollinators within these systems and beyond. In this perspective paper, we provide an overview of forage legumes, their interplay with pollinators, and the ecological and socio-economic benefits of pollinator–forage legume interactions, at different scales (farm and landscape level). We further discuss the challenges and opportunities of scaling sustainably intensified cattle production systems that integrate legume forage-seed production with principles of pollinator ecology and native beekeeping. Finally, we provide interested stakeholders, policy-and decision-makers with a perspective on how such agroecosystems may be designed and scaled into multifunctional landscapes.
Highlights
There is a growing demand for livestock products (Bernabucci, 2019)
Cattle production systems in Tropical Latin America rely on grazing animals that feed upon planted or naturalized pastures
The development of pollinator friendly environments, based on forage-legumes and silvo-pastoral systems (SPS) and their introduction into cattle systems, brings several benefits, including the (i) provision of habitats for pollinators on decline, and (ii) promotion of legume seed yield considered as barrier to the wider adoption of grass-legume, forage banks, or tree legume systems such as SPS
Summary
There is a growing demand for livestock products (Bernabucci, 2019). Intensification of cattle production systems (i.e., increase in production per unit of available resource) is proposed to meet market requirements (Sakamoto et al, 2020), increase economic returns and reduce environmental impacts (Cassman and Grassini, 2020) including land use (Martha et al, 2012) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Eckard et al, 2010; Herrero et al, 2013; Ruviaro et al, 2015; Cardoso et al, 2016). These interventions allow the creation of seed production enterprises and different revenue avenues (e.g. meliponiculture). Research and adaptive farm management efforts should be considered for each agroecological context in order to leverage the potential pollinator conservation synergies from the interaction between traditional management practices and the natural regeneration processes of legume populations in legume-based silvo-pastoral systems
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