Cargando…

Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insect pollinators such as bees contribute to crop production, food security, ecosystem stability and biodiversity in agroecosystems. However, intensification of agricultural practices jeopardizes pollination services in agricultural landscapes mainly through the decline in flower re...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Barda, Myrto, Karamaouna, Filitsa, Kati, Vaya, Perdikis, Dionysios
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9960344/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36835777
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects14020208
_version_ 1784895491441426432
author Barda, Myrto
Karamaouna, Filitsa
Kati, Vaya
Perdikis, Dionysios
author_facet Barda, Myrto
Karamaouna, Filitsa
Kati, Vaya
Perdikis, Dionysios
author_sort Barda, Myrto
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insect pollinators such as bees contribute to crop production, food security, ecosystem stability and biodiversity in agroecosystems. However, intensification of agricultural practices jeopardizes pollination services in agricultural landscapes mainly through the decline in flower resources for pollinators in farmlands. The study examines a scheme to provide floral resources for insect pollinators in apple orchards potentially contributing to their conservation and enhancing crop pollination. For this reason, flowering mixtures including legume landraces were sown in patches inside apple orchards and compared to the orchard’s weed flora in respect of attraction of pollinators. Pollinators recorded on the sown and wild plant patches were honey bees, wild bees, syrphids and beeflies. The most abundant pollinator of apple was the honey bee but wild bees were also recorded. The sown mixture attracted greater numbers of pollinators and more wild bee taxa compared to the wild plants, but it did not have an effect on pollinators visiting apple flowers. Flowering patches with mixtures of suitable plants in groundcover can enhance pollinator conservation in apple orchards. ABSTRACT: Apples depend on insect pollination but intensification of agriculture jeopardizes pollination services in agroecosystems. Concerns about the dependency of crop pollination exclusively on honey bees increase the interest in agricultural practices that safeguard wild pollinators in agroecosystems. The purpose of the study was to assess the potential of floral resource provision in apple orchards to enhance the conservation of hymenopterous pollinating insects and potentially the pollination service to the crop. For this reason, flowering plant mixtures sown in patches inside apple orchards were tested against wild plant patches. Pollinator taxa recorded on the sown and wild plant patches were honey bees, wild bees (Andrena, Anthophora, Eucera, Halictus, Lasioglossum, Megachilidae on both; Systropha only on wild plants; Bombus, Hylaeus, Sphecodes, Nomada, Xylocopa only on sown mixture), syrphids, bee flies. The most abundant pollinator of apple was A. mellifera but wild bees were also recorded (Andrena, Anthophora, Bombus, Xylocopa, Lasioglossum, Megachilidae). The sown mixture attracted a more diverse taxa of pollinators and in greater numbers compared to the weed flora, but it did not have an effect on pollinators visiting apple flowers. Groundcover management with patches of suitable flowering mixtures can enhance pollinator conservation in apple orchards.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9960344
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-99603442023-02-26 Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards? Barda, Myrto Karamaouna, Filitsa Kati, Vaya Perdikis, Dionysios Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insect pollinators such as bees contribute to crop production, food security, ecosystem stability and biodiversity in agroecosystems. However, intensification of agricultural practices jeopardizes pollination services in agricultural landscapes mainly through the decline in flower resources for pollinators in farmlands. The study examines a scheme to provide floral resources for insect pollinators in apple orchards potentially contributing to their conservation and enhancing crop pollination. For this reason, flowering mixtures including legume landraces were sown in patches inside apple orchards and compared to the orchard’s weed flora in respect of attraction of pollinators. Pollinators recorded on the sown and wild plant patches were honey bees, wild bees, syrphids and beeflies. The most abundant pollinator of apple was the honey bee but wild bees were also recorded. The sown mixture attracted greater numbers of pollinators and more wild bee taxa compared to the wild plants, but it did not have an effect on pollinators visiting apple flowers. Flowering patches with mixtures of suitable plants in groundcover can enhance pollinator conservation in apple orchards. ABSTRACT: Apples depend on insect pollination but intensification of agriculture jeopardizes pollination services in agroecosystems. Concerns about the dependency of crop pollination exclusively on honey bees increase the interest in agricultural practices that safeguard wild pollinators in agroecosystems. The purpose of the study was to assess the potential of floral resource provision in apple orchards to enhance the conservation of hymenopterous pollinating insects and potentially the pollination service to the crop. For this reason, flowering plant mixtures sown in patches inside apple orchards were tested against wild plant patches. Pollinator taxa recorded on the sown and wild plant patches were honey bees, wild bees (Andrena, Anthophora, Eucera, Halictus, Lasioglossum, Megachilidae on both; Systropha only on wild plants; Bombus, Hylaeus, Sphecodes, Nomada, Xylocopa only on sown mixture), syrphids, bee flies. The most abundant pollinator of apple was A. mellifera but wild bees were also recorded (Andrena, Anthophora, Bombus, Xylocopa, Lasioglossum, Megachilidae). The sown mixture attracted a more diverse taxa of pollinators and in greater numbers compared to the weed flora, but it did not have an effect on pollinators visiting apple flowers. Groundcover management with patches of suitable flowering mixtures can enhance pollinator conservation in apple orchards. MDPI 2023-02-19 /pmc/articles/PMC9960344/ /pubmed/36835777 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects14020208 Text en © 2023 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
Barda, Myrto
Karamaouna, Filitsa
Kati, Vaya
Perdikis, Dionysios
Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards?
title Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards?
title_full Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards?
title_fullStr Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards?
title_full_unstemmed Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards?
title_short Do Patches of Flowering Plants Enhance Insect Pollinators in Apple Orchards?
title_sort do patches of flowering plants enhance insect pollinators in apple orchards?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9960344/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36835777
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects14020208
work_keys_str_mv AT bardamyrto dopatchesoffloweringplantsenhanceinsectpollinatorsinappleorchards
AT karamaounafilitsa dopatchesoffloweringplantsenhanceinsectpollinatorsinappleorchards
AT kativaya dopatchesoffloweringplantsenhanceinsectpollinatorsinappleorchards
AT perdikisdionysios dopatchesoffloweringplantsenhanceinsectpollinatorsinappleorchards