Pollinator contribution to crop yield

Authors

James Reilly1, Alfonso Allen-Perkins2,3, Rachael Winfree1, Ignasi Bartomeus3

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

  2. Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica, Automática y Física Aplicada, ETSIDI, Technical University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.

  3. Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Avenida Américo Vespucio 26, E-41092 Sevilla, Spain. Corresponding email: nacho.bartomeus@gmail.com

Last update: 2024-03-01

Abstract

Over 75% percent of the world’s food crops are dependent on pollinators to at least some degree (IPBES 2017). However, the precise degree of pollinators contribution to crop yield is uncertain because there is a large variability in crop types, pollinator communities, agricultural practices and environmental contexts. Fortunately, since the first case studies reporting a positive effect of pollinators on crop yield, more and more data has accumulated. This allowed us to synthesize what we know (e.g. Garibaldi et al. 2013, Rader et al. 2016, Dainese et al. 2019). However, as the question is data hungry and is still not settled, we aim to embrace this uncertainty and periodically report updates as our knowledge increases. This repository uses CropPol v2.1.0, an open database with 93 studies to regress the abundance and richness of wildbees and honeybees on crop yield. Currently, the overall estimate of wild bee abundances is 0.078 and that of honeybees is 0.085. Pollinator richness has an estimate of 0.036. By providing a dynamic assessment of how our knowledge changes as more data is available, we ensure updated answers to key questions in ecology.

How to cite this:

You can cite this dynamic document directly: J. Reilly, A. Allen-Perkins, R. Winfree, I. Bartomeus. 2024 Pollinator contribution to crop yield. version 1.0.0. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7481551.

Or the original paper: TBA

Download in PDF:

https://ibartomeus.github.io/CropPollinationModels/Report_CropPolModels.pdf

Source code:

You can find the source code, as well as previous releases of this repository at: https://github.com/ibartomeus/CropPollinationModels