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Journal ArticleDOI

The global stock of domesticated honey bees is growing slower than agricultural demand for pollination.

09 Jun 2009-Current Biology (Cell Press)-Vol. 19, Iss: 11, pp 915-918
TL;DR: Although the primary cause of the accelerating increase of the pollinator dependence of commercial agriculture seems to be economic and political and not biological, the rapid expansion of cultivation of many pollinator-dependent crops has the potential to trigger future pollination problems for both these crops and native species in neighboring areas.
About: This article is published in Current Biology.The article was published on 2009-06-09 and is currently open access. It has received 902 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Pollinator decline & Pollination.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The nature and extent of reported declines, and the potential drivers of pollinator loss are described, including habitat loss and fragmentation, agrochemicals, pathogens, alien species, climate change and the interactions between them are reviewed.
Abstract: Pollinators are a key component of global biodiversity, providing vital ecosystem services to crops and wild plants. There is clear evidence of recent declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, and parallel declines in the plants that rely upon them. Here we describe the nature and extent of reported declines, and review the potential drivers of pollinator loss, including habitat loss and fragmentation, agrochemicals, pathogens, alien species, climate change and the interactions between them. Pollinator declines can result in loss of pollination services which have important negative ecological and economic impacts that could significantly affect the maintenance of wild plant diversity, wider ecosystem stability, crop production, food security and human welfare.

4,608 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
27 Mar 2015-Science
TL;DR: The stresses bees are experiencing from climate change, infectious diseases, and insecticides are reviewed, with concern that the authors may be nearing a “pollination crisis” in which crop yields begin to fall.
Abstract: Bees are subject to numerous pressures in the modern world. The abundance and diversity of flowers has declined, bees are chronically exposed to cocktails of agrochemicals, and they are simultaneously exposed to novel parasites accidentally spread by humans. Climate change is likely to exacerbate these problems in the future. Stressors do not act in isolation; for example pesticide exposure can impair both detoxification mechanisms and immune responses, rendering bees more susceptible to parasites. It seems certain that chronic exposure to multiple, interacting stressors is driving honey bee colony losses and declines of wild pollinators, but such interactions are not addressed by current regulatory procedures and studying these interactions experimentally poses a major challenge. In the meantime, taking steps to reduce stress on bees would seem prudent; incorporating flower-rich habitat into farmland, reducing pesticide use through adopting more sustainable farming methods, and enforcing effective quarantine measures on bee movements are all practical measures that should be adopted. Effective monitoring of wild pollinator populations is urgently needed to inform management strategies into the future.

2,526 citations


Cites background from "The global stock of domesticated ho..."

  • ...Although global honey bee stocks have increased by ~45%, demand has risenmore than supply; the fraction of global crops that require animal pollination has tripled over the same time period (8), making food production more dependent on pollinators than before....

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Journal ArticleDOI
29 Mar 2013-Science
TL;DR: Overall, wild insects pollinated crops more effectively; an increase in wild insect visitation enhanced fruit set by twice as much as an equivalent increase in honey bee visitation.
Abstract: The diversity and abundance of wild insect pollinators have declined in many agricultural landscapes. Whether such declines reduce crop yields, or are mitigated by managed pollinators such as honey bees, is unclear. We found universally positive associations of fruit set with flower visitation by wild insects in 41 crop systems worldwide. In contrast, fruit set increased significantly with flower visitation by honey bees in only 14% of the systems surveyed. Overall, wild insects pollinated crops more effectively; an increase in wild insect visitation enhanced fruit set by twice as much as an equivalent increase in honey bee visitation. Visitation by wild insects and honey bees promoted fruit set independently, so pollination by managed honey bees supplemented, rather than substituted for, pollination by wild insects. Our results suggest that new practices for integrated management of both honey bees and diverse wild insect assemblages will enhance global crop yields.

1,881 citations


Cites background from "The global stock of domesticated ho..."

  • ...Nor is it known whether increasing application of honey bees (9) compensates for losses of wild pollinators, or even promotes these losses....

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  • ...Several authors have speculated about how changes in biodiversity (5) and phenology (6–8) might translate into changes in the structure (9, 10) and stability (11) of complex interaction networks....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Research efforts and investments are particularly needed to reduce existing yield gaps by integrating context-appropriate bundles of ecosystem services into crop production systems.
Abstract: Rising demands for agricultural products will increase pressure to further intensify crop production, while negative environmental impacts have to be minimized. Ecological intensification entails the environmentally friendly replacement of anthropogenic inputs and/or enhancement of crop productivity, by including regulating and supporting ecosystem services management in agricultural practices. Effective ecological intensification requires an understanding of the relations between land use at different scales and the community composition of ecosystem service-providing organisms above and below ground, and the flow, stability, contribution to yield, and management costs of the multiple services delivered by these organisms. Research efforts and investments are particularly needed to reduce existing yield gaps by integrating context-appropriate bundles of ecosystem services into crop production systems.

1,318 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
08 Dec 2016-Nature
TL;DR: There are well-documented declines in some wild and managed pollinators in several regions of the world, however, many effective policy and management responses can be implemented to safeguard pollinators and sustain pollination services.
Abstract: Wild and managed pollinators provide a wide range of benefits to society in terms of contributions to food security, farmer and beekeeper livelihoods, social and cultural values, as well as the maintenance of wider biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Pollinators face numerous threats, including changes in land-use and management intensity, climate change, pesticides and genetically modified crops, pollinator management and pathogens, and invasive alien species. There are well-documented declines in some wild and managed pollinators in several regions of the world. However, many effective policy and management responses can be implemented to safeguard pollinators and sustain pollination services.

1,121 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is found that fruit, vegetable or seed production from 87 of the leading global food crops is dependent upon animal pollination, while 28 crops do not rely upon animalPollination, however, global production volumes give a contrasting perspective.
Abstract: The extent of our reliance on animal pollination for world crop production for human food has not previously been evaluated and the previous estimates for countries or continents have seldom used primary data. In this review, we expand the previous estimates using novel primary data from 200 countries and found that fruit, vegetable or seed production from 87 of the leading global food crops is dependent upon animal pollination, while 28 crops do not rely upon animal pollination. However, global production volumes give a contrasting perspective, since 60% of global production comes from crops that do not depend on animal pollination, 35% from crops that depend on pollinators, and 5% are unevaluated. Using all crops traded on the world market and setting aside crops that are solely passively self-pollinated, wind-pollinated or parthenocarpic, we then evaluated the level of dependence on animal-mediated pollination for crops that are directly consumed by humans. We found that pollinators are essential for 13 crops, production is highly pollinator dependent for 30, moderately for 27, slightly for 21, unimportant for 7, and is of unknown significance for the remaining 9. We further evaluated whether local and landscape-wide management for natural pollination services could help to sustain crop diversity and production. Case studies for nine crops on four continents revealed that agricultural intensification jeopardizes wild bee communities and their stabilizing effect on pollination services at the landscape scale.

4,830 citations


"The global stock of domesticated ho..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...Agricultural crops vary greatly in their requirements for animal pollination, from those for which animal pollination is irrelevant because they are selfpollinating or wind pollinated to those that depend strictly on animal pollination [10]....

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  • ...defined five classes of pollinator dependence based on a thorough evaluation of the existing literature [10]: class 0, none (production unaffected by exclusion of animal pollinators); class 1, little (0%–10% production reduc-...

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  • ...Included in this fraction is most of the production of several insect-pollinated fruit and nut crops [10], both temperate (e....

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  • ...Much current evidence demonstrates that pollination by unmanaged bees contributes substantially to the production of many crops, particularly in areas of low to moderate agricultural intensification, which provides a mosaic of crops and adjacent remnants of natural and seminatural habitats that offer suitable nest sites [9, 10, 25]....

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  • ...To date, evidence for a global crisis has been drawn from regional or local declines in pollinators themselves [6–9] or insufficient pollination for particular crops [9, 10]....

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Book
01 Apr 1999
TL;DR: The Global Transformations (GTL) project as discussed by the authors is the product of almost a decade's work by a research team (based at the Open University and supported by the ESRC) who have produced what James. N. Rosenau has called the definitive work on globalization.
Abstract: Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the 1999 Conference was the plenary session in which Professors David Held and Mahdi Elmandjra came together to discuss the theme of ‘“Globalization”: Democracy and Diversity’. The Conference also witnessed the launch of Global Transformations (Polity Press, 1999), at which David Held was joined by two of his three coauthors, Professor Anthony McGrew and Dr Jonathan Perraton. Global Transformations is the product of almost a decade’s work by a research team (based at the Open University and supported by the ESRC) who have produced what James. N. Rosenau has called ‘the definitive work on globalization’. It is a study which not only synthesises an extraordinary amount of information from research on globalization in a range of social science disciplines, but also makes its own distinctive contribution to our understanding of the complex range of forces which are reshaping the world order. We are delighted to be able to reproduce here an ‘executive summary’ of Global Transformations that summarises the major findings of this 500-page survey in just six thousand words.

2,755 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Global Transformations (GTL) project as mentioned in this paper is the product of almost a decade's work by a research team (based at the Open University and supported by the ESRC) who have produced what James. N. Rosenau has called the definitive work on globalization.
Abstract: Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the 1999 Conference was the plenary session in which Professors David Held and Mahdi Elmandjra came together to discuss the theme of ‘“Globalization”: Democracy and Diversity’. The Conference also witnessed the launch of Global Transformations (Polity Press, 1999), at which David Held was joined by two of his three coauthors, Professor Anthony McGrew and Dr Jonathan Perraton. Global Transformations is the product of almost a decade’s work by a research team (based at the Open University and supported by the ESRC) who have produced what James. N. Rosenau has called ‘the definitive work on globalization’. It is a study which not only synthesises an extraordinary amount of information from research on globalization in a range of social science disciplines, but also makes its own distinctive contribution to our understanding of the complex range of forces which are reshaping the world order. We are delighted to be able to reproduce here an ‘executive summary’ of Global Transformations that summarises the major findings of this 500-page survey in just six thousand words.

2,637 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
21 Jul 2006-Science
TL;DR: Evidence of declines (pre-versus post-1980) in local bee diversity in Britain and the Netherlands is found and a causal connection between local extinctions of functionally linked plant and pollinator species is strongly suggested.
Abstract: Despite widespread concern about declines in pollination services, little is known about the patterns of change in most pollinator assemblages. By studying bee and hoverfly assemblages in Britain and the Netherlands, we found evidence of declines (pre-versus post-1980) in local bee diversity in both countries; however, divergent trends were observed in hoverflies. Depending on the assemblage and location, pollinator declines were most frequent in habitat and flower specialists, in univoltine species, and/or in nonmigrants. In conjunction with this evidence, outcrossing plant species that are reliant on the declining pollinators have themselves declined relative to other plant species. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest a causal connection between local extinctions of functionally linked plant and pollinator species.

2,616 citations


"The global stock of domesticated ho..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The main exceptions to this global increase involve long-term declines in the USA and some European countries, but these are outweighed by rapid growth elsewhere (Figure S1 available online)....

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  • ...Most recently, these concerns were voiced in Resolution T6-0579/2008 of the European Parliament, which stated ‘‘.whereas the beekeeping sector throughout the world, and more particularly in Europe, is encountering very serious difficulties....

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  • ...Global Pollinator Decline? Recent concerns of a global decline in pollinator abundance [2, 5, 13] have been raised by the accumulation of related regional evidence, including a drop in the number of domestic honey-bee colonies in the USA [14], a reduction in the abundance and diversity of wild bees in Europe [6], and a plethora of studies from around the world showing local decreases in pollinators due to habitat fragmentation [15] and agricultural intensification [9]....

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  • ...For example, the recent resolution of the European Parliament includes the revealing phrases ‘‘.whereas the (beekeeping) sector suffers unfair competition from products originating in third countries and imported into the Community market. action should be taken to tackle unfair competition from apiculture products originating in third countries, which is partly the result of lower production costs, particularly as regards the price of sugar and labour’’ [16]....

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  • ...European Parliament....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed the economic consequences of pollinator decline by measuring the contribution of insect pollination to the world agricultural output economic value, and the vulnerability of world agriculture in the face of the decline of pollinators.

2,270 citations

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