Effects of agricultural landscape heterogeneity on pollinator visitation rates in Mediterranean oilseed rape

Abstract

Agricultural intensification, by changing land use and modifying the yearly configuration and composition through crop sequences, affects the abundance and diversity of pollinators and, consequently, pollination. This study aims to assess the impact of the characteristics of agricultural landscapes on pollinator abundance in the Mediterranean region. We studied the response of three major wild pollinator groups (hoverflies, bumblebees, and wild bees) to four landscape characteristics: three related to composition, namely, equivalent crop diversity in the sampling year (eRg), previous year equivalent crop diversity (eRgP) and percentage of seminatural habitats (SNH), and one related to landscape configuration, namely, mean field size (MFS). For this evaluation, we selected twenty-two oilseed rape fields (OSRs) differing in surrounding landscape characteristics within a 1-km radius. Multimodel inference indicates that landscape variables affect pollinator groups differently. The percentage of SNH was the most important variable having a positive influence on the abundance of bumblebees, while eRgP and MFS were found to be important for the abundance of wild bees and hoverflies. These data allow us to prioritize actions aimed at specific groups of pollinators, improve agricultural landscape schemes, promote the conservation of wild pollinators, promote crop diversity at the landscape scale and increase the extent of seminatural areas.