Pollinator shortage and global crop yield: looking at the whole spectrum of pollinator dependency

• Autores: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro; Aizen, Marcelo A.; Cunningham, Saul A.; Klein, Alexandra M.
• Año de publicación: 2008
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Agricultural Production; Developed World; Developing World; Ecosystem Services; Environmental Degradation; FAO; Pollination Crisis
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Río Negro

Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio Ecotono; Argentina.
Fil: Aizen, Marcelo A. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio Ecotono; Argentina.
Fil: Cunningham, Saul A. CSIRO Entomology; Australia.
Fil: Klein, Alexandra M. University of California; USA.
Fil: Klein, Alexandra M. University of Goettingen; Alemania.
Fil: Aizen, Marcelo A. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Argentina.
Fil: Aizen, Marcelo A. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (INIBIOMA); Argentina.
Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro. Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). Facultad de Agronomía; Argentina.
A pollinator decline caused by environmental degradation might be compromising the production of pollinator-dependent crops. In a recent article, we compared 45 year series (1961–2006) in yield, production, and cultivated area of pollinator-dependent and nondependent crop around the world. If pollinator shortage is occurring globally, we expected a lower annual growth rate in yield for pollinator-dependent than nondependent crops, but a higher growth in cultivated area to compensate the lower yield. We have found little evidence for the first “yield” prediction but strong evidence for the second “area” prediction. Here, we present an additional analysis to show that the first and second predictions are both supported for crops that vary in dependency levels from nondependent to moderate dependence (i.e. up to 65% average yield reduction without pollinators). However, those crops for which animal pollination is essential (i.e. 95% average yield reduction without pollinators) showed higher growth in yield and lower expansion in area than expected in a pollination shortage scenario. We propose that pollination management for highly pollinator-dependent crops, such us renting hives or hand pollination, might have compensated for pollinator limitation of yield.