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Distance from forest edge affects bee pollinators in oilseed rape fields.

ABSTRACT: Wild pollinators have been shown to enhance the pollination of Brassica napus (oilseed rape) and thus increase its market value. Several studies have previously shown that pollination services are greater in crops adjoining forest patches or other seminatural habitats than in crops completely surrounded by other crops. In this study, we investigated the specific importance of forest edges in providing potential pollinators in B.?napus fields in two areas in France. Bees were caught with yellow pan traps at increasing distances from both warm and cold forest edges into B.?napus fields during the blooming period. A total of 4594 individual bees, representing six families and 83 taxa, were collected. We found that both bee abundance and taxa richness were negatively affected by the distance from forest edge. However, responses varied between bee groups and edge orientations. The ITD (Inter-Tegular distance) of the species, a good proxy for bee foraging range, seems to limit how far the bees can travel from the forest edge. We found a greater abundance of cuckoo bees (Nomada spp.) of Andrena spp. and Andrena spp. males at forest edges, which we assume indicate suitable nesting sites, or at least mating sites, for some abundant Andrena species and their parasites (Fig.?1). Synthesis and Applications. This study provides one of the first examples in temperate ecosystems of how forest edges may actually act as a reservoir of potential pollinators and directly benefit agricultural crops by providing nesting or mating sites for important early spring pollinators. Policy-makers and land managers should take forest edges into account and encourage their protection in the agricultural matrix to promote wild bees and their pollination services.

SUBMITTER: Bailey S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3936384 | biostudies-other | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Distance from forest edge affects bee pollinators in oilseed rape fields.

Bailey Samantha S Requier Fabrice F Nusillard Benoît B Roberts Stuart P M SP Potts Simon G SG Bouget Christophe C

Ecology and evolution 20140115 4

Wild pollinators have been shown to enhance the pollination of Brassica napus (oilseed rape) and thus increase its market value. Several studies have previously shown that pollination services are greater in crops adjoining forest patches or other seminatural habitats than in crops completely surrounded by other crops. In this study, we investigated the specific importance of forest edges in providing potential pollinators in B. napus fields in two areas in France. Bees were caught with yellow p ...[more]

PMID: 24634722

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Project description:Wild bees are essential pollinators whose survival partly depends on the capacity of their environment to offer a sufficient amount of nectar and pollen. Semi-natural habitats and mass-flowering crops such as oilseed rape provide abundant floristic resources for bees. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influences of the spatial distribution of semi-natural habitats and oilseed rape fields on the abundance and the mean body size of a solitary bee in grasslands. We focused on a generalist mining bee, Andrena cineraria, that forages and reproduces during oilseed rape flowering. In 21 permanent grasslands of Eastern France, we captured 1 287 individuals (1 205 males and 82 females) and measured the body size of male individuals. The flower density in grasslands was quantified during bee captures (2016) and the landscape surrounding grasslands was characterized during two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). The influence of oilseed rape was tested through its distribution in the landscape during both the current year of bee sampling and the previous year. Bee abundance was positively influenced by the flower density in grasslands and by the area covered by oilseed rape around grasslands in the previous year. The mean body size of A. cineraria was explained by the interaction between flower density in the grassland and the distance to the nearest oilseed rape field in the current year: the flower density positively influenced the mean body size only in grasslands distant from oilseed rape. A. cineraria abundance and body size distribution were not affected by the area of semi-natural habitats in the landscape. The spatial distribution of oilseed rape fields (during both the current and the previous year) as well as the local density of grassland flowers drive both bee abundance and the mean value of an intraspecific trait (body size) in permanent grasslands. Space-time variations of bee abundance and mean body size in grasslands may have important ecological implications on plant pollination and on interspecific interactions between pollinators. Specifically, a competition between bee species for nesting sites might occur in oilseed rape rich landscapes, thus raising important conservation issues for bee species that do not benefit from oilseed rape resources.

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Distance from forest edge affects bee pollinators in oilseed rape fields.

Publications

Distance from forest edge affects bee pollinators in oilseed rape fields.

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