Pesticides and habitat loss additively reduce wild bees in crop fields

Abstract

Abstract Pesticide use and habitat loss are major anthropogenic drivers of bee decline, raising global concerns about impaired crop pollination. However, the relative importance of these stressors and their combined impact on bee assemblages comprising species with different traits, such as body size or nesting strategy, remains unknown. Here we addressed these key knowledge gaps in a global quantitative synthesis analysing bee assemblage data from 681 crop fields across three continents. We found that both local pesticide hazards and decreasing proportions of semi-natural habitats in surrounding landscapes negatively affected wild bee abundance and species richness in crop fields, while pesticides additionally reduced functional and phylogenetic diversity. Semi-natural habitat availability did not buffer against these negative pesticide effects, nor did we identify any specific traits rending bees more vulnerable to one of the two drivers. Our findings highlight the pressing need to reduce non-target effects of pesticide use and emphasize that conservation and restoration of semi-natural habitats successfully promote wild bees, but are insufficient strategies to mitigate pesticide-driven losses of wild bee pollinators from crop fields.

Affiliated Institutions

• Obafemi Awolowo University NG
• University of California, Berkeley US
• University of Würzburg DE
• University of Wisconsin–Madison US
• Centre for Ecological Research HU
• Universidad de Jaén ES
• Utah State University US
• Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement FR
• University of Göttingen DE
• Zone Atelier Moselle FR
• Dynamiques et écologie des paysages agriforestiers
• Agroscope CH
• University of Reading GB
• University of British Columbia CA
• Montana State University US
• Roger Williams University US
• Lund University SE
• University of Embu KE
• German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research DE
• Stockholm University SE
• Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications ES
• University of Maine US
• Stellenbosch University ZA
• Universidad de Oviedo ES
• Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research DE
• Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge EE
• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ES
• Hochschule Geisenheim University DE
• University of Freiburg DE
• Génétique Physiologie et Systèmes d'Elevage FR
• Royal Holloway University of London GB
• Cornell University US
• Estación Biológica de Doñana ES
• Estonian University of Life Sciences EE
• University of Vermont US
• Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario ES

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