Abstract
Agricultural intensification, with its associated habitat loss and fragmentation, is among the most important drivers of the ongoing pollination crisis. In this quasi-experimental study, conducted in intensively managed vineyards in southwestern Switzerland, we tested the separate and interdependent effects of habitat amount and fragmentation on the foraging activity and reproductive performance of bumblebee Bombus t. terrestris colonies. Based on a factorial design, we selected a series of spatially replicated study sites across a dual gradient of habitat amount (area of ground-vegetated vineyards) and fragmentation (density of ground-vegetated vineyard fields) in a landscape predominantly consisting of vineyards with bare grounds. The foraging activity of individual bumblebees was measured using the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, and we assessed final colony size to measure reproductive performance. We found an interactive effect of habitat amount and fragmentation on colony size. More specifically, the degree of fragmentation had a negative effect on bumblebee colony size when the amount of habitat was low, while it had a weak positive effect on colony size in landscapes with high amounts of habitat. At the level of individual vineyard fields, ground vegetation cover exerted a positive effect on bumblebee colony size. Fragmentation, but not habitat amount, significantly influenced foraging activity, with more foraging trips in sites with lower degrees of fragmentation. Our results emphasise the importance of studying the separate and interdependent effects of habitat amount and fragmentation to understand their influence on pollinators, providing guidance for optimising the spatial configuration of agricultural landscapes from a biodiversity viewpoint.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Franziska Arnold, Beatrice Schranz, Kai Bachofner, René and Beatrice Maurer, Stefanie LaZerte, and Sergio Vignali for helping in field work or programming in R. Great thanks to the 35 vineyard farmers for giving their permission to work in their vineyards.
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This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, grant 31003A_149780.
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CM, LB, SAC and AJ designed the study. CM and EK conducted the experiments in the field. CM, LB and AJ analysed and interpreted the data and wrote the manuscript. SAC and RA extensively revised and commented on draft versions of the manuscript.
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Communicated by Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter.
With this experimental study, we provide evidence that both processes, habitat amount and fragmentation, need to be tested separately and interdependently to understand their effects on biodiversity.
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Maurer, C., Bosco, L., Klaus, E. et al. Habitat amount mediates the effect of fragmentation on a pollinator’s reproductive performance, but not on its foraging behaviour. Oecologia 193, 523–534 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04658-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04658-0