Drastic reductions in insect diversity and abundance have been observed in highly fragmented agricultural landscapes of central Europe. Declines of pollinators may have detrimental effects on the reproduction of wild insect-pollinated plants as well as the yield of crops. In order to mitigate such impacts, sown flower strips on arable land within Agri-Environment Climate Schemes (AECS) are supported across EU countries. However, it is not clear whether sown flower strips provide equivalent benefits to wild flower-visiting insects as semi-natural habitats. Here, we apply the plant-pollinator network approach to evaluate the function of sown flower strips for the communities of wild bees. We compared the structural characteristics and the robustness of plant-pollinator networks in sown flower strips and nearby semi-natural habitats in seven sites in the Czech Republic. We also quantified the importance of individual plant species for bees based on simulations of plant-pollinator extinction cascades.
A comparison of wild bee communities in sown flower strips and semi-natural habitats: A pollination network approach
Year: 2022
