Biodiversity supplies multiple goods and services to society and is critical for the support of livelihoods across
the globe. Many indigenous people depend upon non-timber forest products (NTFP) and crops for a range of
goods including food, medicine, fi bre, and construction materials. However, the dependency of these products on biotic pollination services is poorly understood. We used the biologically and culturally diverse Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in India to characterize the types of NTFP and crop products of 213 plant species and asses their degree of dependency on animal pollination. We found that 80 percent of all species benefited from animal pollination in their reproduction and that 62 percent of crop products and 40 percent of NTFP benefitted from biotic pollination in their production. Further, we identified the likely pollinating taxa documented as responsible for the production of these products, mainly bees and other insects. A lower proportion of indigenous plant products (39 percent) benefited from biotic pollination than products from introduced plants (61 percent). We conclude that pollinators play an important role in the livelihoods of people in this region.
Benefits of biotic pollination for non-timber forest products and cultivated plants
Year: 2009
