On-farm restorations to promote pollinator beta-diversity

Agriculture has become increasingly reliant on pollinator-dependent crops, but pollinators ar threatened by land-use change, habitat fragmentation, pesticide use, and invasions of non-native plants and animals. As a result, there is increasing need for management practices that restore pollinators and the services they provide in working landscapes. Restoring pollinator communities and services is of particular importance for the maintenance of reliable and predictable crop pollination as well as the conservation of plant and animal populations. Natural areas have been shown to positively influence pollinator communities, but is it unclear whether small-scale, on-farm restorations such as hedgerows also provide this role. We examine the effects of hedgerows on the turnover of pollinator communities, or beta-diversity, through time and space in hedgerows. We find that hedgerows increase pollinator beta-diversity.