Impact of insect pollinators in agriculture: importance and management of their biodiversity

Abstract

Entomophilous pollination is essential for global food production, and it is therefore considered a key ecosystem service. This paper synthesizes updated information on how and why insect biodiversity is important for crop pollination, as well as how to manage such biodiversity. Recent studies show that the magnitude of the pollination service depends on the abundance and the diversity of wild insects in the crops. Thus, farms with more diverse pollinator communities receive a better service because the different insect species complement each other and generate an additive effect. Insect pollination is currently threatened by a shortage of pollinators, and thus global actions are needed to mitigate this decay. The biodiversity of pollinators depends not only on the abundance of flowers of the crop itself, but also on the availability of alternative food and nesting resources. In order to improve the pollination service, practices can be implemented to increase these resources both within the farms (spontaneous groundcovers, sown flower strips, nesting sites) as well as in their close (hedges) or distant surroundings (semi-natural habitats in the agricultural landscape). Most farmers, and society in general, still ignore the value of animal pollination, the need to conserve wild insect populations and the ways to promote the ecosystem service of pollination. Despite there are still challenges of research on crop pollination, the dissemination of existing knowledge is urgently required.