TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gámez-Virués, Sagrario
A1  - Perović, David J.
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Börschig, Carmen
A1  - Blüthgen, Nico
A1  - de Jong, Heike
A1  - Simons, Nadja K.
A1  - Klein, Alexandra-Maria
A1  - Krauss, Jochen
A1  - Maier, Gwen
A1  - Scherber, Christoph
A1  - Steckel, Juliane
A1  - Rothenwöhrer, Christoph
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Weiner, Christiane N.
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang
A1  - Werner, Michael
A1  - Tscharntke, Teja
A1  - Westphal, Catrin
T1  - Landscape simplification filters species traits and drives biotic homogenization
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Biodiversity loss can affect the viability of ecosystems by decreasing the ability of communities to respond to environmental change and disturbances. Agricultural intensification is a major driver of biodiversity loss and has multiple components operating at different spatial scales: from in-field management intensity to landscape-scale simplification. Here we show that landscape-level effects dominate functional community composition and can even buffer the effects of in-field management intensification on functional homogenization, and that animal communities in real-world managed landscapes show a unified response (across orders and guilds) to both landscape-scale simplification and in-field intensification. Adults and larvae with specialized feeding habits, species with shorter activity periods and relatively small body sizes are selected against in simplified landscapes with intense in-field management. Our results demonstrate that the diversity of land cover types at the landscape scale is critical for maintaining communities, which are functionally diverse, even in landscapes where in-field management intensity is high.
KW  - land-use intensity
KW  - community functional-responses
KW  - body-size
KW  - agricultural intensification
KW  - sustainable intensification
KW  - managed grasslands
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - diversity
KW  - heterogenity
KW  - butterflies
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-141925
VL  - 6
IS  - 8568
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bartomeus, Ignasi
A1  - Potts, Simon G.
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Vaissiere, Bernard E.
A1  - Woyciechowski, Michal
A1  - Krewenka, Kristin M.
A1  - Tscheulin, Thomas
A1  - Roberts, Stuart P. M.
A1  - Szentgyoergyi, Hajnalka
A1  - Westphal, Catrin
A1  - Bommarco, Riccardo
T1  - Contribution of insect pollinators to crop yield and quality varies with agricultural intensification
JF  - PEERJ
N2  - Background. Up to 75% of crop species benefit at least to some degree from animal pollination for fruit or seed set and yield. However, basic information on the level of pollinator dependence and pollinator contribution to yield is lacking for many crops. Even less is known about how insect pollination affects crop quality. Given that habitat loss and agricultural intensification are known to decrease pollinator richness and abundance, there is a need to assess the consequences for different components of crop production. Methods. We used pollination exclusion on flowers or inflorescences on a whole plant basis to assess the contribution of insect pollination to crop yield and quality in four flowering crops (spring oilseed rape, field bean, strawberry, and buckwheat) located in four regions of Europe. For each crop, we recorded abundance and species richness of flower visiting insects in ten fields located along a gradient from simple to heterogeneous landscapes. Results. Insect pollination enhanced average crop yield between 18 and 71% depending on the crop. Yield quality was also enhanced in most crops. For instance, oilseed rape had higher oil and lower chlorophyll contents when adequately pollinated, the proportion of empty seeds decreased in buckwheat, and strawberries' commercial grade improved; however, we did not find higher nitrogen content in open pollinated field beans. Complex landscapes had a higher overall species richness of wild pollinators across crops, but visitation rates were only higher in complex landscapes for some crops. On the contrary, the overall yield was consistently enhanced by higher visitation rates, but not by higher pollinator richness. Discussion. For the four crops in this study, there is clear benefit delivered by pollinators on yield quantity and/or quality, but it is not maximized under current agricultural intensification. Honeybees, the most abundant pollinator, might partially compensate the loss of wild pollinators in some areas, but our results suggest the need of landscape-scale actions to enhance wild pollinator populations.
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - pollination
KW  - honeybee
KW  - wild bees
KW  - agroecosystems
KW  - native pollinators
KW  - species richness
KW  - bee pollinators
KW  - wild
KW  - ecosystemservices
KW  - fruit-quality
KW  - oilseed rape
KW  - land-use
KW  - honey
KW  - patterns
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-116928
SN  - 2167-9843
VL  - 2
IS  - e328
ER  -