Pollination services in the UK: how important are honeybees?

Pollination services are known to provide substantial benefits to human populations and agriculture in particular. Although many species are known to provide pollination services, honeybees (Apis mellifera) are often assumed to provide the majority of these services to agriculture. Using data from a range of secondary sources, this study assesses the importance of insect pollinated crops at regional and national scales and investigates the capacity of honeybees to provide optimal pollination services to UK agriculture. The findings indicate that insect pollinated crops have become increasingly important in UK crop agriculture and, as of 2007, accounted for 20% of UK cropland and 19% of total farmgate crop value. Analysis of honeybee hive numbers indicates that current UK populations are only capable of supplying 34% of pollination service demands even under favourable assumptions, falling from 70% in 1984. In spite of this decline, insect pollinated crop yields have risen by an average of 54% since 1984, casting doubt on long held beliefs that honeybees provide the majority of pollination services. Future land use and crop production patterns may further increase the role of pollination services to UK agriculture, highlighting the importance of measures aimed at maintaining both wild and managed species

Using citizen science to monitor pollination services

1. Pollination by insects is a vital ecosystem service and the need for its assessment is increasing in recognition and political pressure, but there are currently no large-scale systematic monitoring schemes in place to measure the direct provision of this service. 2. This study tested a protocol for using a citizen science approach to quantify pollination service provision in gardens and allotments, requiring participants to grow Vica faba L. plants and carry out some simple manipulations of the pollination environment (flowers with bees excluded, flowers hand-pollinated, or flowers left for local pollinators to visit). Volunteers assessed yield in the three treatments. 3. Eighty participants from across the U.K. successfully completed all parts of the protocol; a further 93 participants were unsuccessful but actively engaged with the project. 4. Overall, the present results suggest that pollination services for V. faba are currently not limiting in gardens or allotments in the U.K. It is possible and cost-effective to recruit volunteers to collect data on pollination deficits using this protocol. 5. The approach used in this paper, which could readily be extended to incorporate other plant species reliant on different guilds of pollinators, is feasible for adoption as a national monitoring scheme for pollination services. Key words. Bees, bumblebees, crop yield, ecosystem services, pollinator, urban, Viciafab

Honeybees : market for pollination services grow

Related link(s): http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/region_focus/2009/spring/feature1_weblinks.cfmAgriculture ; Farm income

The Dynamics of Pollination Markets

The economic problem of a commercial beekeeper is akin to that of a traveling salesman with the important difference that bees simultaneously pollinate crops and feed on them. In other words, bees not only provide pollination services but also feed on the crops they visit. As a result, the number and price of bees available for pollination at any time for any crop is determined by the demand for pollination services and the supply of bee food from other crops in the market. I develop a dynamic model of yearly fluctuations in the stock of honey bees and combine it with an economic model of beekeeper's behavior. This dynamic model of bee population highlights the fact that they are a renewable resource whose economic value is derived from both extraction and the provision of pollination services. Losses of hives to parasitic mites and other pests have a greater impact on the pollination cost of crops that blossom early. The effect of honey subsidies on pollination fees is ambiguous theoretically, which challenges previous results from the economics literature on pollination markets.pollination, beekeeping, pollination markets, bee population dynamics, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q57,

An Economic Valuation of Pollination Services in Georgia

The production of many crops depends on biotic pollination. As pollinator populations decline, assessments of the potential consequential loss of economic value are critical. We estimate the economic value of pollination services ($608 million), crop vulnerability ratio (21 percent), and pollination’s contribution to agricultural production value (5 percent) for Georgia.Pollination, Colony Collapse Disorder, Georgia, Bioeconomic, Value, Vulnerability, Ecosystem Services, Crops, Honeybees, Pollinators, Pollination Dependency, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Economic value of pollination services on crops in Benin, West Africa

Pollinators provide pollination services that are crucial for sexual  reproduction of many flowering plants. Beside wind and water, pollination services are provided by animals but mainly by insects. They improve the quality and the quantity of many crops. This study aimed at accessing the economic value of pollination services on selected crops in 2010 in Benin. Thus, 29 valued crops were considered and their individual pollination service values obtained from literature. At national scale, the individual gains in production due to pollination services of the selected crops were summed. In this study, all crops used for the calculation require pollination services and their economic added values were estimated to about 99,866.44 billion of local currency (FCFA) (that equal US $ 199.21 million) in 2010. This contributes substantially to the economy of Benin (3.03% of GDP). These results reveal the need to pay more attention to pollinators and their services in agricultural policies definition in Benin. We suggest a rational use of pesticides in agriculture and the preference of traditional practices in agriculture such as the preservation of few native plants in farming areas to give opportunity to conserve pollinators in these areas.Keywords: Added value, agriculture, conservation, pollinators

The macroeconomic cost of catastrophic pollinator declines

We develop a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach to assess the macroeconomic impacts of productivity shocks due to catastrophic losses of pollination ecosystem services at global and regional scales. In most regions, producers of pollinator dependent crops end up benefiting because direct output losses are outweighed by increased prices, while non-agricultural sectors experience large adverse indirect impacts, resulting in overall losses whose magnitudes vary substantially. By comparison, partial equilibrium analyses tend to overstate the costs to agricultural producers, understate aggregate economy-wide losses, and overstate the impacts on consumers' welfare. Our results suggest an upper bound on global willingness to pay for agricultural pollination services of $127–$152 billion

Management and drivers of change of pollinating insects and pollination services. National Pollinator Strategy: for bees and other pollinators in England, Evidence statements and Summary of Evidence

These Evidence Statements provide up-to-date information on what is known (and not known) about the status, values, drivers of change, and responses to management of UK insect pollinators (as was September 2018). This document has been produced to inform the development of England pollinator policy, and provide insight into the evidence that underpins policy decision-making. This document sits alongside a more detailed Summary of Evidence (Annex I) document written by pollinator experts. For information on the development of the statements, and confidence ratings assigned to them, please see section ?Generation of the statements? below. Citations for these statements are contained in the Summary of Evidence document

Assessing the role of dispersed floralresources for managed bees in providingsupporting ecosystem services for croppollination

Most pollination ecosystem services studies have focussed on wild pollinators and their dependence on natural floral resources adjacent to crop fields. However, managed pollinators depend on a mixture of floral resources that are spatially separated from the crop field. Here, we consider the supporting role these resources play as an ecosystem services provider to quantify the use and availability of floral resources, and to estimate their relative contribution to support pollination services of managed honeybees. Beekeepers supplying pollination services to the Western Cape deciduous fruit industry were interviewed to obtain information on their use of floral resources. For 120 apiary sites, we also analysed floral resources within a two km radius of each site based on geographic data. The relative availability of floral resources at sites was compared to regional availability. The relative contribution of floral resources-types to sustain managed honeybees was estimated. Beekeepers showed a strong preference for eucalypts and canola. Beekeepers selectively placed more hives at sites with eucalypt and canola and less with natural vegetation. However, at the landscape-scale, eucalypt was the least available resource, whereas natural vegetation was most common. Based on analysis of apiary sites, we estimated that 700,818 ha of natural vegetation, 73,910 ha of canola fields, and 10,485 ha of eucalypt are used to support the managed honeybee industry in the Western Cape. Whereas the Cape managed honeybee system uses a bee native to the region, alien plant species appear disproportionately important among the floral resources being exploited. We suggest that an integrated approach, including evidence from interview and landscape data, and fine-scale biological data is needed to study floral resources supporting managed honeybees

Valuing Insect Pollination Services with Cost of Replacement

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