Pollination
Food security, food diversity, human nutrition and food prices all rely strongly on animal pollinators, and yet animal pollination is under stress from factors including habitat destruction and unsustainable agricultural practices such as intensification and pesticide misuse. There is a renewed interest in helping nature provide pollination services through best agricultural management practices that support wild pollinators, such as planting hedgerows, encouraging plant diversity, mulching, or the wise/reduced use of pesticides.
Grassland are an important habitat for pollinators when they are sustainably managed. Also, the enhancement of their floristic diversity has a huge potential to benefit insect pollinators.
Important freshwater plants, such as water lilies need pollinators to reproduce. Pollinators are therefore also important in freshwater systems, helping the balance of the system, indirectly supporting fisheries.
Natural forests are important habitat for pollinators, providing refuge and food. Given the choice, wild honeybees chose nesting places in trees rather than in an open landscape. When enough bees are present in a forest, they provide a better pollination that leads to improved regeneration of trees and conservation of the forest’s biodiversity.
Name
Pollination
Description
Insects and wind pollinate plants and trees which is essential for the development of fruits, vegetables and seeds. Animal pollination is an ecosystem service mainly provided by insects but also by some birds and bats. In agro-ecosystems, pollinators are essential for orchard, horticultural and forage production, as well as the production of seed for many root and fibre crops. Pollinators such as bees, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production, increasing outputs of around 75% of the leading food crops worldwide.
Types
Broader topics
Cover