The global stock of domesticated honey bees is growing slower than agricultural demand for pollination.
TLDR
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.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers.
Simon G. Potts,Jacobus C. Biesmeijer,Claire Kremen,Peter J. Neumann,Oliver Schweiger,William E. Kunin +5 more
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance
Lucas Alejandro Garibaldi,Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter,Rachael Winfree,Marcelo A. Aizen,Riccardo Bommarco,Saul A. Cunningham,Claire Kremen,Luísa G. Carvalheiro,Luísa G. Carvalheiro,Lawrence D. Harder,Ohad Afik,Ignasi Bartomeus,Faye Benjamin,Virginie Boreux,Virginie Boreux,Daniel P. Cariveau,Natacha P. Chacoff,Jan H. Dudenhöffer,Breno Magalhães Freitas,Jaboury Ghazoul,Sarah S. Greenleaf,Juliana Hipólito,Andrea Holzschuh,Brad G. Howlett,Rufus Isaacs,Steven K. Javorek,Christina M. Kennedy,Kristin M. Krewenka,Smitha Krishnan,Yael Mandelik,Margaret M. Mayfield,Iris Motzke,Iris Motzke,Theodore Munyuli,Brian A. Nault,Mark Otieno,Jessica D. Petersen,Gideon Pisanty,Simon G. Potts,Romina Rader,Taylor H. Ricketts,Maj Rundlöf,Maj Rundlöf,Colleen L. Seymour,Christof Schüepp,Christof Schüepp,Hajnalka Szentgyörgyi,Hisatomo Taki,Teja Tscharntke,Carlos H. Vergara,Blandina Felipe Viana,Thomas C. Wanger,Catrin Westphal,Neal M. Williams,Alexandra-Maria Klein +54 more
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecological intensification: harnessing ecosystem services for food security
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
Safeguarding pollinators and their values to human well-being
Simon G. Potts,Vera Lúcia Imperatriz-Fonseca,Hien T. Ngo,Marcelo A. Aizen,Jacobus C. Biesmeijer,Jacobus C. Biesmeijer,Tom D. Breeze,Lynn V. Dicks,Lucas Alejandro Garibaldi,Rosemary Hill,Josef Settele,Adam J. Vanbergen +11 more
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.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
ENDANGERED MUTUALISMS: The Conservation of Plant-Pollinator Interactions
TL;DR: Recent declines in honeybee numbers in the United States and Europe bring home the importance of healthy pollination systems, and the need to further develop native bees and other animals as crop pollinators.
Journal ArticleDOI
Landscape effects on crop pollination services: are there general patterns?
Taylor H. Ricketts,James Regetz,Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter,Saul A. Cunningham,Claire Kremen,Anne K. Bogdanski,Barbara Gemmill-Herren,Sarah S. Greenleaf,Alexandra-Maria Klein,Alexandra-Maria Klein,Margaret M. Mayfield,Laura A. Morandin,Alfred Ochieng,Blande F. Viana +13 more
TL;DR: Tropical crops pollinated primarily by social bees may be most susceptible to pollination failure from habitat loss, and the general relationship between pollination services and distance from natural or semi-natural habitats is estimated.
Journal ArticleDOI
The potential consequences of pollinator declines on the conservation of biodiversity and stability of food crop yields.
TL;DR: The work group encourages increased education and training to ensure that both the lay public and resource managers understand that pollination is one of the most important ecological services provided to agriculture through the responsible management and protection of wildland habitats and their populations of pollen-vectoring animals and nectar-producing plants.
Journal ArticleDOI
A meta‐analysis of bees' responses to anthropogenic disturbance
TL;DR: Both bee abundance and species richness were significantly, negatively affected by disturbance, however, the magnitude of the effects was not large and the only disturbance type showing a significant negative effect, habitat loss and fragmentation, was statistically significant only in systems where very little natural habitat remains.
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Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance
Lucas Alejandro Garibaldi,Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter,Rachael Winfree,Marcelo A. Aizen,Riccardo Bommarco,Saul A. Cunningham,Claire Kremen,Luísa G. Carvalheiro,Luísa G. Carvalheiro,Lawrence D. Harder,Ohad Afik,Ignasi Bartomeus,Faye Benjamin,Virginie Boreux,Virginie Boreux,Daniel P. Cariveau,Natacha P. Chacoff,Jan H. Dudenhöffer,Breno Magalhães Freitas,Jaboury Ghazoul,Sarah S. Greenleaf,Juliana Hipólito,Andrea Holzschuh,Brad G. Howlett,Rufus Isaacs,Steven K. Javorek,Christina M. Kennedy,Kristin M. Krewenka,Smitha Krishnan,Yael Mandelik,Margaret M. Mayfield,Iris Motzke,Iris Motzke,Theodore Munyuli,Brian A. Nault,Mark Otieno,Jessica D. Petersen,Gideon Pisanty,Simon G. Potts,Romina Rader,Taylor H. Ricketts,Maj Rundlöf,Maj Rundlöf,Colleen L. Seymour,Christof Schüepp,Christof Schüepp,Hajnalka Szentgyörgyi,Hisatomo Taki,Teja Tscharntke,Carlos H. Vergara,Blandina Felipe Viana,Thomas C. Wanger,Catrin Westphal,Neal M. Williams,Alexandra-Maria Klein +54 more