Quantifying the influence of landscape composition on the pollination service supplied to pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) in Ohio

Pumpkin production relies on insect-mediated pollination and our goal was to measure the contribution of key pollinators to this service in relation to the surrounding landscapes. We hypothesized that the pollination service provided would vary by bee species and landscapes with a higher proportion of undisturbed habitat in the surrounding landscape would support a greater richness and abundance of bees visiting pumpkin flowers. To test this hypothesis we: 1) observed the ambient diversity and abundance of bees visiting open male and female flowers at three different 2-hr time periods within the pollination window using video surveillance, 2) quantified the amount of pollen deposited by the bee community, and 3) ground-truthed and categorized landscape types via aerial photographs at a radius of 1500m in diameter around each pumpkin site. From these data we determined how variation in the community of bees could have been influenced by the surrounding landscape, and how the pollinators at each site influenced pollen deposition.