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Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango

SIMPLE SUMMARY: There is an urgent pollinator decline crisis across the globe, with fewer pollinators and yet increasing agricultural reliance on them to produce food and fiber crops for growing populations. Habitat loss and chemical eradication of unwanted plants has limited the floral resources fo...

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Autores principales: Kleiman, Blaire M., Koptur, Suzanne, Jayachandran, Krishnaswamy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8704218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34940201
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12121114
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author Kleiman, Blaire M.
Koptur, Suzanne
Jayachandran, Krishnaswamy
author_facet Kleiman, Blaire M.
Koptur, Suzanne
Jayachandran, Krishnaswamy
author_sort Kleiman, Blaire M.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: There is an urgent pollinator decline crisis across the globe, with fewer pollinators and yet increasing agricultural reliance on them to produce food and fiber crops for growing populations. Habitat loss and chemical eradication of unwanted plants has limited the floral resources for pollinators, and in farms with only one crop, there are limited resources solely during the flowering season. Weeds, or unwanted vegetation, are often the only remaining floral resource for pollinators, yet they are compulsively removed using chemicals. This article examines how weedy floral resources affect pollinators in a mango farm, Mangifera indica, a pollinator-dependent crop in South Florida, and how fruit yield is affected by either leaving weeds or removing them. ABSTRACT: Agriculture is dependent on insect pollination, yet in areas of intensive production agriculture, there is often a decline in plant and insect diversity. As native habitats and plants are replaced, often only the weeds or unwanted vegetation persist. This study compared insect diversity on mango, Mangifera indica, a tropical fruit tree dependent on insect pollination, when weeds were present in cultivation versus when they were removed mechanically. The pollinating insects on both weeds and mango trees were examined as well as fruit set and yield in both the weed-free and weedy treatment in South Florida. There were significantly more pollinators and key pollinator families on the weedy mango trees, as well as significantly greater fruit yield in the weedy treatment compared to the weed-free treatment. Utilizing weeds, especially native species, as insectary plants can help ensure sufficient pollination of mango and increase biodiversity across crop monocropping systems.
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spelling pubmed-87042182021-12-25 Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango Kleiman, Blaire M. Koptur, Suzanne Jayachandran, Krishnaswamy Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: There is an urgent pollinator decline crisis across the globe, with fewer pollinators and yet increasing agricultural reliance on them to produce food and fiber crops for growing populations. Habitat loss and chemical eradication of unwanted plants has limited the floral resources for pollinators, and in farms with only one crop, there are limited resources solely during the flowering season. Weeds, or unwanted vegetation, are often the only remaining floral resource for pollinators, yet they are compulsively removed using chemicals. This article examines how weedy floral resources affect pollinators in a mango farm, Mangifera indica, a pollinator-dependent crop in South Florida, and how fruit yield is affected by either leaving weeds or removing them. ABSTRACT: Agriculture is dependent on insect pollination, yet in areas of intensive production agriculture, there is often a decline in plant and insect diversity. As native habitats and plants are replaced, often only the weeds or unwanted vegetation persist. This study compared insect diversity on mango, Mangifera indica, a tropical fruit tree dependent on insect pollination, when weeds were present in cultivation versus when they were removed mechanically. The pollinating insects on both weeds and mango trees were examined as well as fruit set and yield in both the weed-free and weedy treatment in South Florida. There were significantly more pollinators and key pollinator families on the weedy mango trees, as well as significantly greater fruit yield in the weedy treatment compared to the weed-free treatment. Utilizing weeds, especially native species, as insectary plants can help ensure sufficient pollination of mango and increase biodiversity across crop monocropping systems. MDPI 2021-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8704218/ /pubmed/34940201 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12121114 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kleiman, Blaire M.
Koptur, Suzanne
Jayachandran, Krishnaswamy
Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango
title Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango
title_full Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango
title_fullStr Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango
title_full_unstemmed Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango
title_short Weeds Enhance Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Mango
title_sort weeds enhance pollinator diversity and fruit yield in mango
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8704218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34940201
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12121114
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