It’s been reported that up to 95% of all flowering plants require additional help during the pollination process. Pollinator species, including bees, aid this process through transferring pollen grains from flower to flower. However, in light of the growing evidence of global declines in pollinator species, the management, ecology and conservation of wild and managed pollinators is a subject of growing importance and research activity.
Promoting pollination and pollinators in farming reviews the wealth of research on our current understanding of existing pollination processes and their importance to our global ecosystems. The book considers how pollinators interact with plants, as well as the major threats to pollinator species, including climate change, diseases and pesticide exposure.
Through its comprehensive exploration of the current status of pollinators in farming, the book provides its readers with the knowledge required to promote pollination by protecting the world’s pollinators species and the ecosystem services they deliver using techniques such as habitat conservation.
Author(s): Peter Kevan, Susan Willis Chan
Series: Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science, 126
Publisher: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 414
City: Sawston
Promoting pollination and pollinators in farming
Part 1 Understanding pollinators and pollination
Chapter 1 What is pollination and what are pollinators in agriculture?
1 Introduction
2 The basics of pollination
3 Pollinators and their diversity
4 The ecology and evolution of floral traits
5 Domestication and its impact on plant–pollinator relationships
6 How do pollinators impact agriculture?
7 Modern agriculture and pollinators
8 Conclusion
9 Where to look for further information
10 References
Chapter 2 The role and application of olfaction in crop plant–pollinator interactions
1 Introduction
2 Key challenges
3 Case studies
4 Summary
5 Future trends
6 Conclusion
7 Where to look for further information
8 References
Chapter 3 The role of wind pollination in crop plants
1 Introduction
2 Fundamental mechanisms of wind pollination
3 Wind pollination and transgenic risks in grass crop species
4 Promoting wind pollination in open-pollinated crop species
5 Conclusion and future trends
6 References
Part 2 Threats to pollinators
Chapter 4 Assessing climate change impacts on pollinators
1 Introduction
2 Challenges anthropogenic climate change poses to pollinators
3 Advancing our understanding of climate change impacts on pollinators
4 Conserving pollinators under climate change
5 Conclusion
6 Where to look for further information
7 References
Chapter 5 Assessing the impact of disease on pollinators
1 Introduction
2 A bestiary of honey bee diseases
3 The poorly known wild bee diseases
4 Disease transmission, spillover and spillback
5 Defence mechanisms of bees
6 Synergies with other risk factors
7 Prevention of diseases
8 Future trends
9 Where to look for further information
10 References
Chapter 6 How neonicotinoid insecticides affect bees and other pollinators
1 Introduction
2 What are neonicotinoids?
3 Why are neonicotinoids such a concern for pollinators?
4 Environmental contamination and pollinator exposure
5 Toxicity and effects across pollinator taxa and contexts
6 Sublethal effects on bees and interactions among multiple stressors
7 Case studies illustrating consequences for pollinator populations and pollination
8 Conclusion
9 Where to look for further information
10 Acknowledgements
11 References
Chapter 7 Assessing the impact of pesticides on pollinators
1 Introduction
2 History of bee testing and risk assessment
3 Testing pesticide effects to pollinators
4 Ecotoxicological risk assessment for pollinators
5 Indirect and sublethal effects
6 Risk mitigation
7 Pesticide incident monitoring
8 Conclusion
9 Where to look for further information
10 Acknowledgements
11 References
Chapter 8 Assessing the impact of alien bees on native ones
1 Introduction
2 Assessment of key issues related to the introduction of alien bees
3 Case study: Megachile sculpturalis
4 Conclusion
5 Future trends in research
6 How to improve biosecurity
7 Where to look for further information
8 References
Part 3 Promoting pollinators and pollination
Chapter 9 The role of habitat conservation and restoration in protecting pollinators in agricultural landscapes
1 Introduction
2 Bees as pollinators
3 Challenges in habitat restoration
4 Assessing the effectiveness of habitat restoration
5 Case studies
6 Conclusion
7 Where to look for further information
8 References
Chapter 10 Altering crop management practices to promote pollinators
1 Introduction
2 Approaches to managing production space for pollinators
3 Case studies
4 Assessing efficacy of alternative agronomic practices
5 Conclusion
6 Future trends in research
7 Where to look for further information
8 References
Chapter 11 Ecological network approaches for promoting pollinators in agriculture
1 Introduction
2 Plant–pollinator networks
3 Networks across scales
4 Increasing the completeness of pollination networks
5 Embedding pollination within wider agro-ecosystem networks
6 Next steps for pollination networks
7 Conclusion
8 Where to look for further information
9 Acknowledgements
10 References
Chapter 12 Best management practices for pollinator protection in US apple production
1 Introduction
2 Apple orchard pollinators
3 Pests, diseases and their management in apple production
4 Potential hazards to pollinators from apple pest management practices
5 Best management practices to promote pollinators
6 Best management practices: integrated pest and pollinator management
7 Best management practices for pesticide application
8 Acknowledgements
9 References
Chapter 13 Entomovectoring: using pollinators to spread biocontrol agents
1 Introduction
2 Factors important for successful entomovectoring
3 Examples of bumblebees as vectors for entomovectoring: successes and failures
4 Case study: entomovectoring of bacteria by Bombus terrestris against Botrytis cinerea in strawberry
5 Conclusion and future trends
6 Where to look for further information
7 References
Index
