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Peer reviewe

The potential of electricity transmission corridors in forested areas as bumblebee habitat

Declines in pollinator abundance and diversity are not only a conservation issue, but also a threat to crop pollination. Maintained infrastructure corridors, such as those containing electricity transmission lines, are potentially important wild pollinator habitat. However, there is a lack of evidence comparing the abundance and diversity of wild pollinators in transmission corridors with other important pollinator habitats. We compared the diversity of a key pollinator group, bumblebees (Bombus spp.), between transmission corridors and the surrounding semi-natural and managed habitat types at 10 sites across Sweden’s Uppland region. Our results show that transmission corridors have no impact on bumblebee diversity in the surrounding area. However, transmission corridors and other maintained habitats such as roadsides have a level of bumblebee abundance and diversity comparable to semi-natural grasslands and host species that are important for conservation and ecosystem service provision. Under the current management regime, transmission corridors already provide valuable bumblebee habitat, but given that host plant density is the main determinant of bumblebee abundance, these areas could potentially be enhanced by establishing and maintaining key host plants. We show that in northern temperate regions the maintenance of transmission corridors has the potential to contribute to bumblebee conservation and the ecosystem services they providePeer reviewe

Pollinator declines: reconciling scales and implications for ecosystem services

Despite the widespread concern about the fate of pollinators and the ecosystem services they deliver, we still have surprisingly scarce scientific data on the magnitude of pollinator declines and its actual contribution to crop pollination and food security. We use recently published data from northeastern North America to show that studies at both the local and regional scales are needed to understand pollinator declines, and that species-specific responses to global change are broadly consistent across scales. Second, we show that bee species that are currently delivering most of the ecosystem services (i.e. crop pollination) are not among the species showing declining trends, but rather appear to thrivein human-dominated landscapes. - See more at: http://f1000research.com/articles/2-146/v1#sthash.7jLf7zFE.dpu

Per què on hi ha més biodiversitat, hi ha més plantes exòtiques?

Investigadores del CREAF-UAB han encontrado los factores que hacen que en las zonas más biodiversas, donde se esperaría menos invasión de plantas exóticas (experimentos realizados lo corroboran), haya, en la práctica, más plantas exóticas y, por tanto, más invasión. Las razones de este fenómeno son diversas, pero la actividad humana es de las más destacadas. Los humanos provocamos cambios bruscos que permiten a las plantas exóticas invadir zonas más biodiversas que pierden su "resistencia biótica". Estudiar con detalle todos estos factores permitiría entender totalmente como las invasiones de plantas exóticas llegan a zonas dominadas por plantas nativas.Investigadors del CREAF-UAB han trobat els factors que fan que en les zones més biodiverses, on s'esperaria menys invasió de plantes exòtiques (experiments realitzats ho corroboren), n'hi hagi, a la pràctica, més plantes exòtiques i, per tant, més invasió. Les raons d'aquest fenomen són diverses, però l'activitat humana és de les més destacades. Els humans provoquem canvis bruscos que permeten a les plantes exòtiques envair zones més biodiverses que perden la seva "resistència biòtica". Estudiar amb detall tots aquests factors permetria entendre totalment com les invasions de plantes exòtiques arriben a zones dominades per plantes natives.CREAF-UAB researchers have found why the high biodiversisty areas, where less exotic plants invasion would be expected, have more exotic plants and, therefore, more invasion. The reasons for this are diverse, but human activity is the most prominent. Humans provoke sudden changes that allow exotic plants invade the high biodiverse areas that lose their "biotic resistance". Only studying in detail all these factors a fully understanding of exotic plants invasions will be achieved

The need for coordinated transdisciplinary research infrastructures for pollinator conservation and crop pollination resilience

There is a growing concern about the status and trends of animal pollinators worldwide. Pollinators provide a key service to both wild plants and crops by mediating their reproduction, so pollinator conservation is of fundamental importance to conservation and to food production. Understanding of the extent of pollinator declines is constrained by the paucity of accessible data, which leads to geographically- and taxonomically-biased assessments. In addition, land conversion to agriculture and intensive agricultural management are two of the main threats to pollinators. This is paradoxical, as crop production depends on pollinators to maximize productivity. There is a need to reconcile conservation and ecosystem service provision in agroecosystems. These challenges require coordinated transdisciplinary research infrastructures. Specifically, we need better research infrastructures to (i) describe pollinator decline patterns worldwide, (ii) monitor current pollinator trends, and (iii) understand how to enhance pollinator numbers and pollination in agroecosystems. This can be achieved, first, by redoubling the efforts to make historical data on species occurrences, interactions and traits openly available and easy to integrate across databases. Second, by empowering citizen science to monitor key pollinator species in a coordinated way and standardizing, consolidating and integrating long term collection protocols both in natural and agricultural areas. Finally, there is a need to develop multi-actor, localised research infrastructures allowing integration of social, economic and ecological approaches in agriculture. We illustrate how decentralized infrastructures can accelerate the process of co-producing research and integrating data collection across scientists, managers, members of the public, farmers and disciplines. The time is ripe to harness the power of coordinated research infrastructures to understand and mitigate pollinator declines

Pollinators, pests and soil properties interactively shape oilseed rape yield.

[EN] Pollination, pest control, and soil properties are well known to affect agricultural production. These factors might interactively shape crop yield, but most studies focus on only one of these factors at a time. We used 15 winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) fields in Sweden to study how variation among fields in pollinator visitation rates, pollen beetle attack rates and soil properties (soil texture, pH and organic carbon) interactively determined crop yield. The fields were embedded in a landscape gradient with contrasting proportions of arable and semi-natural land. In general, pollinator visitation and pest levels were negatively correlated and varied independently of soil properties. This may reflect that above- and below-ground processes react at landscape and local spatial scales, respectively. The above-ground biotic interactions and below-ground abiotic factors interactively affected crop yield. Pollinator visitation was the strongest predictor positively associated with yield. High soil pH also benefited yield, but only at lower pest loads. Surprisingly, high pest loads increased the pollinator benefits for yield. Implementing management plans at different spatial scales can create synergies among above- and below-ground ecosystem processes, but both scales are needed given that different processes react at different spatial scales.[GER] Bestäubung, Schädlingskontrolle und Bodeneigenschaften beeinflussen die Agrarproduktion. Diese Faktoren könnten interagierend den Ernteertrag beeinflussen, aber die meisten Studien konzentrieren sich auf nur einen Faktor. Wir untersuchten auf 15 Winterrapsfeldern (Brassica napus L.) in Schweden, wie die von Feld zu Feld variierenden Bestäuberbesuchsraten, Rapsglanzkäfer-Befallsraten und Bodeneigenschaften (Bodentextur, pH, organischer Kohlenstoff) wechselwirkend den Ertrag bestimmten. Die Felder repräsentierten einen Landschaftsgradienten mit unterschiedlichen Anteilen von Agrarflächen und naturnahen Arealen. Allgemein waren Bestäuberbesuch und Schädlingsbefall negativ miteinander korreliert, und sie variierten unabhängig von den Bodeneigenschaften. Dies könnte anzeigen, dass oberirdische Prozesse und Prozesse im Boden auf der Landschaftsebene bzw. der lokalen Ebene reagieren. Die oberirdischen biotischen Interaktionen und die abiotischen Bodenfaktoren beeinflussten wechselwirkend den Ertrag. Der Bestäuberbesuch war der stärkste positiv mit dem Ertrag verknüpfte Faktor. Ein hoher pH-Wert begünstigte ebenfalls den Ertrag, aber nur bei geringem Schädlingsbefall. Überraschenderweise, steigerte hoher Schädlingsbefall die positive Wirkung des Bestäuberbesuchs auf den Ertrag. Das Aufstellen von Bewirtschaftungsplänen auf unterschiedlichen räumlichen Skalen kann Synergien zwischen oberirdischen und unterirdischen Ökosystemprozessen freisetzen, aber beide Skalen werden benötigt, da unterschiedliche Prozesse auf unterschiedlichen Skalen reagierenPeer reviewe

La força de les plantes invasores

La presència i l'expansió d'algunes plantes fora de la seva regió d'origen pot alterar l'estructura biològica de la nova comunitat, segons les conclusions d'aquest treball. El text descriu el mecanisme de competència entre les plantes "invasores" i les natives, a partir de la seva relació amb els pol·linitzadors.La presencia y expansión de algunas plantas en un ambiente distinto a su ecosistema original puede alterar la estructura biológica de la comunidad, de acuerdo con las conclusiones de este trabajo. El texto describe el mecanismo de competencia entre las plantas autóctonas y las "invasoras" a través de su relación con los polinizadores.The presence and expansion of some plants outside their original ecosystem could alter the structure of the biological community, according to the conclusions in this thesis. The work describes the competition mechanism between local and "invasive" plants, analyzing their relationship with pollinators

Niche complementarity among pollinators increases community-level plant reproductive success

Declines in pollinator diversity and abundance have been reported across different regions, with implications for the reproductive success of plant species. However, research has focused primarily on pairwise plant-pollinator interactions, largely overlooking community-level dynamics. Here, we present one of the first efforts linking pollinator visitation to plant reproduction from a community-wide perspective using a well-replicated dataset encompassing 16 well-resolved plant-pollinator networks and data on reproductive success for 19 plant species from Mediterranean shrub ecosystems. We find that models including simple visitation metrics are sufficient to explain the variability in reproductive success observed. However, insights into the mechanisms through which differences in pollinator diversity translate into changes in reproductive success require additional information on network structure. Specifically, we find a positive effect of increasing niche complementarity between pollinators on plant reproductive success. This shows that maintaining communities with a diversity of species but also of functions is paramount to preserving natural ecosystems

Towards the integration of niche and network theories

The quest for understanding how species interactions modulate diversity has progressed by theoretical and empirical advances following niche and network theories. Yet, niche studies have been limited to describe coexistence within tropic levels despite incorporating information about multi-trophic interactions. Network approaches could address this limitation, but they have ignored the structure of species interactions within trophic levels. Here we call for the integration of niche and network theories to reach new frontiers of knowledge exploring how interactions within and across trophic levels promote species coexistence. This integration is possible due to the strong parallelisms in the historical development, ecological concepts, and associated mathematical tools of both theories. We provide a guideline to integrate this framework with observational and experimental studies