Wild insect diversity increases inter-annual stability in global crop pollinator communities
Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, vol. 288, pp. 20210212
Abstract
While an increasing number of studies indicate that the range, diversity and abundance of many wild pollinators has declined, the global area of pollinator-dependent crops has significantly increased over the last few decades. Crop pollination studies to date have mainly focused on either identifying different guilds pollinating various crops, or on factors driving spatial changes and turnover observed in these communities. The mechanisms driving temporal stability for ecosystem functioning and services, however, remain poorly understood. Our study quantifies temporal variability observed in crop pollinators in 21 different crops across multiple years at a global scale. Using data from 43 studies from six continents, we show that (i) higher pollinator diversity confers greater inter-annual stability in pollinator communities, (ii) temporal variation observed in pollinator abundance is primarily driven by the three-most dominant species, and (iii) crops in tropical regions demonstrate higher inter-annual variability in pollinator species richness than crops in temperate regions. We highlight the importance of recognizing wild pollinator diversity in agricultural landscapes to stabilize pollinator persistence across years to protect both biodiversity and crop pollination services. Short-term agricultural management practices aimed at dominant species for stabilizing pollination services need to be considered alongside longer term conservation goals focussed on maintaining and facilitating biodiversity to confer ecological stability.
Authors 58
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Deepa Senapathi corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Biometry and Environmental System Analysis, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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Institute for Sustainability Sciences, Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland
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Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Wageningen University & Research
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Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences · Institute of Apiculture Research
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Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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National University of Río Negro · Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural
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Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Río Negro, Argentina
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Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
Functional Agrobiodiversity, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Pollination Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
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Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, USA
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Setor de Abelhas, Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza - CE, Brazil
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Pollination Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
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Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
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Department of Biology, Carroll College, Harrison Helena, USA
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Syngenta, Jealott's Hill International Research Centre, Bracknell, Berkshire RG42 6EY, UK
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University of Lisbon · Universidade Federal de Goiás
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Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), University of Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus Samambaia, Goiânia, Brazil
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St Paul, USA
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Centre for Pollination Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Pollination Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
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Centre for Pollination Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
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W. K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, MI, USA
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Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Affiliation as printed
Setor de Abelhas, Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza - CE, Brazil
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Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas · National University of Río Negro · Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural
Affiliation as printed
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Río Negro, Argentina
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Aix-Marseille Université · Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie Marine et Continentale · Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
Affiliation as printed
IMBE, Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, Marseille, France
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Wageningen University & Research
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Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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University of California, Davis
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Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California Davis, Davis, USA
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The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, New Zealand
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Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program, East Lansing, USA
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The University of Texas at Austin
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Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
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Lund University · University of Göttingen
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Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
Department of Biology, Biodiversity, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Heidelberg Research Service, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Lund University · Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
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Department of Biology, Biodiversity, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Swedish Rural Economy and Agricultural Society, Kristianstad, Sweden
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Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Department of Entomology, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
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School of Science and Environment, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK
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Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Field Engine Wildlife Research and Management, Moodus, CT 06469, USA
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Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
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Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Ontario, Canada
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School of Environment and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
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Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Department of Biology, Biodiversity, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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University of Calcutta · Coventry University
Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, UK
Centre for Pollination Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
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Affiliation as printed
Centre of Environmental and Climate Research & Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden
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Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos
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Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Av. Unisinos, 950, São Leopoldo, RS, Caixa Postal 93022-750, Brazil
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Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Affiliation as printed
School of Science and Environment, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK
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Affiliation as printed
Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
Functional Agrobiodiversity, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Affiliation as printed
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, USA
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Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences · Institute of Apiculture Research
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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Affiliation as printed
Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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