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Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape

  • Plant-animal interactions - Original research
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Abstract

The relationships between landscape intensification, the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects, and their contributions to crop yield, quality, and market value are poorly studied, despite observed declines in wild and domesticated pollinators. Abundance and species richness of pollinating insects were estimated in ten fields of spring oilseed rape, Brassica napus var. SW Stratos™, located along a gradient of landscape compositions ranging from simple landscapes dominated by arable land to heterogeneous landscapes with extensive cover of semi-natural habitats. In each field, we assessed the contribution of wind and insect pollination to seed yield, seed quality (individual seed weight and oil and chlorophyll contents), and market value in a block experiment with four replicates and two treatments: (1) all flowers were accessible to insects, self and wind pollination, and (2) flowers enclosed in tulle net bags (mesh: 1 × 1 mm) were accessible only to wind and self pollination. Complex landscapes enhanced the overall abundance of wild insects as well as the abundance and species richness of hoverflies. This did not translate to a higher yield, probably due to consistent pollination by honey bees across all fields. However, the pollination experiment showed that insects increased seed weight per plant by 18% and market value by 20%. Seed quality was enhanced by insect pollination, rendering heavier seeds as well as higher oil and lower chlorophyll contents, clearly showing that insect pollination is required to reach high seed yield and quality in oilseed rape. Our study demonstrates considerable and previously underestimated contributions from pollinating insects to both the yield and the market value of oilseed rape.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Ingemar Fries, and two anonymous reviewers for very useful comments. Stuart McMillan, Robert Wedmo, Carol Högfeldt, and Solveig Eriksson are thanked for assistance in the field, and the farmers for their helpful collaboration. We are grateful to Erik N. Sjödin and Jean-Pierre Sarthou for help with identifying bees and syrphids, respectively. The oil and chlorophyll analysis was performed by Eva Engwall at Svalöf Weibull Labs AB, and was funded by Svensk Raps AB. This research was part of the projects “ALARM—assessing large-scale environmental risks for biodiversity with tested methods” (GOCE-CT-2003-506675) and “STEP—status and trends of European pollinators” (244090) of the EU 6th and 7th Framework Programs, respectively, and the project “SAPES” funded by FORMAS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 75007, Uppsala, Sweden

    Riccardo Bommarco & Lorenzo Marini

  2. DAFNAE-Entomology, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020, Legnaro, Padova, Italy

    Lorenzo Marini

  3. INRA, UR406 Abeilles & Environnement, 84914, Avignon Cedex 9, France

    Bernard E. Vaissière

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  1. Riccardo Bommarco
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  2. Lorenzo Marini
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  3. Bernard E. Vaissière
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Correspondence to Riccardo Bommarco.

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Communicated by Jason Tylianakis.

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Bommarco, R., Marini, L. & Vaissière, B.E. Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape. Oecologia 169, 1025–1032 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2271-6

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