Influence of landscape simplification on pollination services to strawberry

Declines in both managed and wild pollinators threaten the sustained production of the more than 70% of food crops which rely to some extent on pollination services provided by insects and include many of our most nutrient dense foods. Conservation of pollination services depends upon our understanding of the processes that influence pollinator abundance and diversity within the landscape, as well as the relationship between pollinator community composition and the provision of services. In this study, we evaluated the influence of natural habitat types in the landscape on the composition of pollinator communities and the provisioning of pollination services and measured the pollination effectiveness of floral visitors to cultivated strawberry (Fragaria ananassa). Pollinators were collected during bloom using passive sampling methods on 15 farms in the Finger Lakes Region representing a gradient of natural area in the surrounding landscape from 20 to 75%. Landscapes with a greater proportion of natural area had significantly higher pollinator abundances and species richness. Species richness had little effect on the level of pollination services; however, yield was positively correlated pollinator abundance. This increase in fruit weight with greater abundance rather than species richness is supported by the lack of differences in single visit pollinator efficiency. Our results show that low proportions of natural area in the landscape negatively impacts pollination services to strawberry. Conservation strategies that preserve areas of semi-natural habitat are important for managing agroecosystems that are capable of maintaining yields while sponsoring their own ecosystem services.