Anders Nielsen

Avdelingsleder/forskningssjef

(+47) 913 50 435
anders.nielsen@nibio.no

Sted
Ås - Bygg O43

Besøksadresse
Oluf Thesens vei 43, 1433 Ås (Varelevering: Elizabeth Stephansens vei 23)

Til dokument

Sammendrag

Climate change, landscape homogenization, and the decline of beneficial insects threaten pollination services to wild plants and crops. Understanding how pollination potential (i.e. the capacity of ecosystems to support pollination of plants) is affected by climate change and landscape homogenization is fundamental for our ability to predict how such anthropogenic stressors affect plant biodiversity. Models of pollinator potential are improved when based on pairwise plant–pollinator interactions and pollinator's plant preferences. However, whether the sum of predicted pairwise interactions with a plant within a habitat (a proxy for pollination potential) relates to pollen deposition on flowering plants has not yet been investigated. We sampled plant–bee interactions in 68 Scandinavian plant communities in landscapes of varying land-cover heterogeneity along a latitudinal temperature gradient of 4–8°C, and estimated pollen deposition as the number of pollen grains on flowers of the bee-pollinated plants Lotus corniculatus and Vicia cracca. We show that plant–bee interactions, and the pollination potential for these bee-pollinated plants increase with landscape diversity, annual mean temperature, and plant abundance, and decrease with distances to sand-dominated soils. Furthermore, the pollen deposition in flowers increased with the predicted pollination potential, which was driven by landscape diversity and plant abundance. Our study illustrates that the pollination potential, and thus pollen deposition, for wild plants can be mapped based on spatial models of plant–bee interactions that incorporate pollinator-specific plant preferences. Maps of pollination potential can be used to guide conservation and restoration planning.

Til datasett

Sammendrag

Climate change, landscape homogenization and the decline of beneficial insects threaten pollination services to wild plants and crops. Understanding how pollination potential (i.e. the capacity of ecosystems to support pollination of plants) is affected by climate change and landscape homogenization is fundamental for our ability to predict how such anthropogenic stressors affect plant biodiversity. Models of pollinator potential are improved when based on pairwise plant-pollinator interactions and pollinator´s plant preferences. However, whether the sum of predicted pairwise interactions with a plant within a habitat (a proxy for pollination potential) relates to pollen deposition on flowering plants has not yet been investigated. We sampled plant-bee interactions in 68 Scandinavian plant communities in landscapes of varying land-cover heterogeneity along a latitudinal temperature gradient of 4–8 C°, and estimated pollen deposition as the number of pollen grains on flowers of the bee-pollinated plants Lotus corniculatus, and Vicia cracca. We show that plant-bee interactions, and the pollination potential for these bee-pollinated plants increase with landscape diversity, annual mean temperature, plant abundance, and decrease with distances to sand-dominated soils. Furthermore, the pollen deposition in flowers increased with the predicted pollination potential, which was driven by landscape diversity and plant abundance. Our study illustrates that the pollination potential, and thus pollen deposition, for wild plants can be mapped based on spatial models of plant-bee interactions that incorporate pollinator-specific plant preferences. Maps of pollination potential can be used to guide conservation and restoration planning.

Project image

Divisjon for miljø og naturressurser

CANALLS Agroecological practices for sustainable transition


Agroecology covers all activities and actors involved in food systems. It also places the well-being of people (producers and consumers of crops and products) at its core. The EU-funded CANALLS project will focus on the agroecological zones and diverse farming systems in the humid tropics of Central and Eastern Africa. It will explore the complex environmental, social and economic challenges, which in some cases are exacerbated by conflict and high vulnerability. Moreover, it will advance agroecological transitions in these regions through multi-actor transdisciplinary agroecology Living Labs at eight sites in four countries. The focus will be on crops such as cocoa, coffee and cassava, which are vital for subsistence and economic development.

Active Updated: 30.01.2024
End: des 2026
Start: jan 2023