Thursday, May 19, 2022
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Biology

Bean cultivation in diverse agricultural landscapes promotes bees and increases yields

April 25, 2022
in Biology
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Pollination by insects is essential for the production of many food crops. The presence of pollinators, such as bees, depends on the availability of nesting sites and sufficient food. If these conditions are lacking, the pollinators also fail to appear and the yield of flowering arable crops, such as broad beans or oilseed rape, suffers as well. A team from the University of Göttingen and the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) in Braunschweig has investigated how the composition of flowering crops and semi-natural habitats in the landscape affects the density of bees, their behaviour when collecting nectar, and the faba bean (Vicia faba) yields. The results of the study have been published in the journal Basic and Applied Ecology.

Bumblebee

Credit: Nicole Beyer

Pollination by insects is essential for the production of many food crops. The presence of pollinators, such as bees, depends on the availability of nesting sites and sufficient food. If these conditions are lacking, the pollinators also fail to appear and the yield of flowering arable crops, such as broad beans or oilseed rape, suffers as well. A team from the University of Göttingen and the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) in Braunschweig has investigated how the composition of flowering crops and semi-natural habitats in the landscape affects the density of bees, their behaviour when collecting nectar, and the faba bean (Vicia faba) yields. The results of the study have been published in the journal Basic and Applied Ecology.

 

The researchers show that in landscapes with a high proportion of semi-natural habitats and in landscapes with a high proportion of faba beans, more bumblebees were found in the bean fields. In addition, the bean yields were higher here. The scientists recorded and observed the foraging behaviour of honeybees and wild bees in bean fields in agricultural landscapes with different landscape compositions. They also worked out the parameters for the yield for an individual plant. “Insect pollination has a positive effect on faba bean yields. Our investigations showed around 34 percent more beans per pod in insect-pollinated plants compared to plants that were inaccessible to insects,” explains Dr Doreen Gabriel from the JKI.

 

“The pollination success in faba beans does not only depend on the density of bees in the fields, but also on the particular bee species collecting nectar. Bumblebee species who have a short proboscis often steal nectar from faba beans by biting holes in the calyxes (the outer sepals that protect the flower bud). In contrast, the bumblebee species who have a longer proboscis collect nectar regularly from the front of the flower, resulting in increased rates of cross-pollination. However, there are hardly any studies that have investigated whether the behaviour of bees collecting nectar is also influenced by the availability and distribution of other resources in the landscape, that is the composition of the landscape,” says first author Dr Nicole Beyer, who did her PhD at the University of Göttingen and now works at the Thünen Institute in Braunschweig. The study shows that short-tongued bumblebees stole nectar more frequently from faba beans when there was a high proportion of faba beans in the landscape.

 

“Our study illustrates how important the composition of the landscape is for crop yield, as shown by the example of the faba bean. The availability of flower-rich habitats can improve the density of bees in fields, their foraging behaviour and their pollination services,” concludes Professor Catrin Westphal, Head of the Functional Agrobiodiversity at Göttingen University.

 

Original publication: Beyer, N., Gabriel, D. & Westphal, C. (2022). Landscape composition modifies pollinator densities, foraging behavior and yield formation in faba beans. Basic and Applied Ecology, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2022.03.002

 

Contact:

Nicole Beyer

University of Göttingen

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences – Functional Agrobiodiversity

Grisebachstraße 6, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-22312

Email: [email protected]

www.uni-goettingen.de/en/601681.html

 

Dr Doreen Gabriel

Institute for Crop and Soil Science

Julius Kühn Institute – Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants

Bundesallee 58, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany

Tel: +49 (0) 531 5962340

Email: [email protected]

 

Professor Catrin Westphal

University of Göttingen

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences – Functional Agrobiodiversity

Grisebachstraße 6, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Tel: +49 (0) 551 3922257

Email: [email protected]



Journal

Basic and Applied Ecology

DOI

10.1016/j.baae.2022.03.002

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Landscape composition modifies pollinator densities, foraging behavior and yield formation in faba beans.

Article Publication Date

25-Apr-2022

Tags: agriculturalBeanbeescultivationdiverseincreaseslandscapespromotesyields
Share26Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Gladstone scientists Tongcui Ma, Irene Chen, and Rahul Suryawanshi.

    “Natural immunity” from omicron is weak and limited, study finds

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Scripps Research awarded $67 million by NIH to lead new Pandemic Preparedness Center

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Researchers discover genetic cause of megaesophagus in dogs

    1022 shares
    Share 409 Tweet 256
  • Do early therapies help very young children with or at high likelihood for autism?

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Ecological functions of streams and rivers severely affected globally

    71 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • Null results research now published by major behavioral medicine journal

    310 shares
    Share 124 Tweet 78
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Understanding how sunscreens damage coral

SUTD develops design-based activity to enhance students’ understanding in electrochemistry

New Curtin research resurrects ‘lost’ coral species

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 187 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....