Value estimates of ecosystem goods and services are useful to justify the allocation of resources towards conservation, but inconclusive estimates risk unsustainable resource allocations. Here we present replacement costs as a more accurate value estimate of insect pollination as an ecosystem service, although this method could also be applied to other services. The importance of insect pollination to agriculture is unequivocal. However, whether this service is largely provided by wild pollinators (genuine ecosystem service) or managed pollinators (commercial service), and which of these requires immediate action amidst reports of pollinator decline, remains contested. If crop pollination is used to argue for biodiversity conservation, clear distinction should be made between values of managed- and wild pollination services. Current methods either under-estimate or over-estimate the pollination service value, and make use of criticised general insect and managed pollinator dependence factors. We apply the theoretical concept of ascribing a value to a service by calculating the cost to replace it, as a novel way of valuing wild and managed pollination services. Adjusted insect and managed pollinator dependence factors were used to estimate the cost of replacing insect- and managed pollination services for the Western Cape deciduous fruit industry of South Africa. Using pollen dusting and hand pollination as suitable replacements, we value pollination services significantly higher than current market prices for commercial pollination, although lower than traditional proportional estimates. The complexity associated with inclusive value estimation of pollination services required several defendable assumptions, but made estimates more inclusive than previous attempts. Consequently this study provides the basis for continued improvement in context specific pollination service value estimates
In the US, the cultivated area (hectares) and production (tonnes) of crops that require or benefit from insect pollination (directly dependent crops: apples, almonds, blueberries, cucurbits, etc.) increased from 1992, the first year in this study, through 1999 and continued near those levels through 2009; aggregate yield (tonnes/hectare) remained unchanged. The value of directly dependent crops attributed to all insect pollination (2009 USD) decreased from 14.29billionin1996,thefirstyearforvaluedatainthisstudy,to10.69 billion in 2001, but increased thereafter, reaching 15.12billionby2009.Thevaluesattributedtohoneybeesandnon−Apispollinatorsfollowedsimilarpatterns,reaching11.68 billion and 3.44billion,respectively,by2009.Thecultivatedareaofcropsgrownfromseedsresultingfrominsectpollination(indirectlydependentcrops:legumehays,carrots,onions,etc.)wasstablefrom1992through1999,buthassincedeclined.Productionofthosecropsalsodeclined,albeitnotasrapidlyasthedeclineincultivatedarea;thisasymmetrywasduetoincreasesinaggregateyield.Thevalueofindirectlydependentcropsattributedtoinsectpollinationdeclinedfrom15.45 billion in 1996 to 12.00billionin2004,buthassincetrendedupward.Thevalueofindirectlydependentcropsattributedtohoneybeesandnon−Apispollinators,exclusiveofalfalfaleafcutterbees,hasdeclinedsince1996to5.39 billion and 1.15billion,respectivelyin2009.Thevalueofalfalfahayattributedtoalfalfaleafcutterbeesrangedbetween4.99 and $7.04 billion. Trend analysis demonstrates that US producers have a continued and significant need for insect pollinators and that a diminution in managed or wild pollinator populations could seriously threaten the continued production of insect pollinated crops and crops grown from seeds resulting from insect pollination