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<p>As habitat loss and agricultural intensification reduce floral resources, pollinator populations are declining. Although these declines threaten pollination services, adoption of traditional strategies to halt pollinator declines in agricultural landscapes is low. This creates a high demand for alternative crop production strategies that support food security while reducing environmental damage and (functional) biodiversity loss. At a landscape scale, crop diversification can promote multiple ecosystem services, including pollination. However, the effects of farm-scale crop diversification on pollinator populations are understudied. In this observational field study, we examine the value of small-scale, diverse horticultural systems (SDHS) in supporting wild pollinator communities. SDHS represent highly diverse food-producing systems, in which multiple crop diversification strategies are implemented by design. Floral resources and wild pollinators were sampled in sixteen landscapes in Belgium, each including one SDHS and one semi-natural grasslands (SNG) study site. SNG provide important floral resources for pollinators in late summer, thereby serving as a benchmark habitat to which SDHS were compared. We found that SDHS provide equally diverse and abundant floral resources compared to those of SNG. Moreover, pollinator species richness and abundance were also comparable between both habitats. Conversely, floral resource and pollinator community composition differed between SDHS and SNG, indicating that different pollinator communities used complementary resources provided by both habitat types. This complementarity was further confirmed by plant-pollinator networks, which additionally revealed that SNG represent the most specialised habitat type. Besides, SNG harbour significantly more specialist bees than SDHS. We therefore argue that SDHS can provide additional, complementary floral resources to those provided by SNG, and represent a possible strategy to support wild pollinators in agricultural landscapes.</p>

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Small-scale, diverse horticultural systems and semi-natural grasslands support complementary pollinator populations

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月11日

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  • Jutta Crois,
  • Kris Verheyen,
  • Ivan Meeus,
  • Louella Buydens,
  • Maxime Eeraerts

摘要

As habitat loss and agricultural intensification reduce floral resources, pollinator populations are declining. Although these declines threaten pollination services, adoption of traditional strategies to halt pollinator declines in agricultural landscapes is low. This creates a high demand for alternative crop production strategies that support food security while reducing environmental damage and (functional) biodiversity loss. At a landscape scale, crop diversification can promote multiple ecosystem services, including pollination. However, the effects of farm-scale crop diversification on pollinator populations are understudied. In this observational field study, we examine the value of small-scale, diverse horticultural systems (SDHS) in supporting wild pollinator communities. SDHS represent highly diverse food-producing systems, in which multiple crop diversification strategies are implemented by design. Floral resources and wild pollinators were sampled in sixteen landscapes in Belgium, each including one SDHS and one semi-natural grasslands (SNG) study site. SNG provide important floral resources for pollinators in late summer, thereby serving as a benchmark habitat to which SDHS were compared. We found that SDHS provide equally diverse and abundant floral resources compared to those of SNG. Moreover, pollinator species richness and abundance were also comparable between both habitats. Conversely, floral resource and pollinator community composition differed between SDHS and SNG, indicating that different pollinator communities used complementary resources provided by both habitat types. This complementarity was further confirmed by plant-pollinator networks, which additionally revealed that SNG represent the most specialised habitat type. Besides, SNG harbour significantly more specialist bees than SDHS. We therefore argue that SDHS can provide additional, complementary floral resources to those provided by SNG, and represent a possible strategy to support wild pollinators in agricultural landscapes.