Parallel Declines in Pollinators and Insect-Pollinated Plants in Britain and the Netherlands

By J. Biesmeijer, Stuart P. M. Roberts, M. Reemer, R. Ohlemüller, M. Edwards, T. Peeters, A. P. Schaffers, S. Potts, R. Kleukers, Christopher M Thomas and 2 more. Science, 2006

3,091 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Despite widespread concern about declines in pollination services, little is known about the patterns of change in most pollinator assemblages. By studying bee and hoverfly assemblages in Britain and the Netherlands, we found evidence of declines (pre-versus post-1980) in local bee diversity in both countries; however, divergent trends were observed in hoverflies. Depending on the assemblage and location, pollinator declines were most frequent in habitat and flower specialists, in univoltine species, and/or in nonmigrants. In conjunction with this evidence, outcrossing plant species that are reliant on the declining pollinators have themselves declined relative to other plant species. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest a causal connection between local extinctions of functionally linked plant and pollinator species.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/526efd0a489d35f3184263110a7041a201ca8601

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Citations in the corpus

Managing ecosystem services in broadacre landscapes: what are the appropriate spatial scales? (2008, background): “In Europe, there is evidence of a national-scale decline in pollinator diversity (density was not estimated) resulting in a subsequent decline in bee-dependent plants and increase in beeindependent plants (Biesmeijer et al. 2006).”
Changes in nectar supply: A possible cause of widespread butterfly decline (2012, background): “…(van Engelsdorp, 2010; Kremen et al., 2002), honeybees and butterflies in Europe (Potts et al., 2010; Van Swaay et al., 2010), wild bees and hoverflies in the UK and the Netherlands (Biesmeijer et al., 2006) and bumblebees in the UK and Belgium (Goulson et al., 2008; Williams and Osborne, 2009).”
Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers (2019, background): “Declining species were habitat and dietary specialists, univoltine and sedentary species in all cases, among which solitary bees were the most affected; moreover, plant species reliant on bee pollination alone were declining in both countries (Biesmeijer et al., 2006).”
Optimal design of agricultural landscapes for pollination services (2008, background): “This vital ecosystem service is threatened, however, by pollinator declines (Watanabe 1994; Allen-Wardell et al. 1998; Biesmeijer et al. 2006; NRC 2007).”
Landscape effects of forest loss in a pollination system (2007, background): “Plant-pollinator interactions are one of the critical services for sustainable ecosystems, so that loss of the function provided by such services can lead to extirpations and potentially to extinctions (Rathcke and Jules 1993; Buchmann and Nabhan 1996; Allen-Wardell et al. 1998; Kearns et al. 1998; ”
Chronic impairment of bumblebee natural foraging behaviour induced by sublethal pesticide exposure (2014, background): “Understanding and mitigating the causes of global insect pollinator declines has important consequences for food security and the global economy (Kremen & Ricketts 2000; Biesmeijer et al. 2006; Potts et al. 2010).”
High white-tailed deer densities benefit graminoids and contribute to biotic homogenization of forest ground-layer vegetation (2009, background): “For example, a large decline of insect-pollinated plants would reduce floral resource availability locally, potentially affecting pollinator assemblages and plant–pollinator interactions (Groom 1998; Wilcock and Neiland 2002; Knight 2003; Palmer et al. 2003; Ruhren and Handel 2003; Biesmeijer et al.”
Wild bee pollinators provide the majority of crop visitation across land‐use gradients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, USA (2007, result): “Our study therefore supports the hypothesis that these farm-site characteristics are more important than organic farming per se ( Benton, Vickery & Wilson 2003 ).”
Spillover of functionally important organisms between managed and natural habitats (2012, background): “Interest in this case is particularly high because of reported declines in bee species and the ecosystem services they provide (Biesmeijer et al., 2006; Potts et al., 2010; Cameron et al., 2011).”