Impact of the agricultural landscape on pollinator movement: a case study using insect pollinators of alfalfa

The agricultural landscape may influence the pattern of movement of pollinators which in turn can affect gene flow or how genes from a crop are being moved over the landscape. We planted patches of alfalfa at different densities or at different patch sizes and examined how these features of the agricultural landscape influenced pollinator movement, comparing honeybees, bumble bees and leaf cutting bees. We examined and compared the distance traveled by the different pollinators between flowers and racemes visited in succession during a foraging bout. We also determined the direction of movement between successive visits of two racemes. We test whether distinct pollinators differ in their pattern of visitation during a foraging bout; whether features of the landscape affect pollinator movement and whether landscape features have the same impact on movement for all pollinators.