Science and Technology Production
Thesis
Authorship
Date
01/01/2012
Summary
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SIGEVA
The current pollination crisis has made the importance of pollination clear. The effects of this crisis have been mainly linked to agriculture. Many studies have focused on the way agriculture output will respond to this and much effort has been put in the development of mechanisms that could help sustain pollinator populations. However, the positive effect of animal pollination is not only limited to crop plants. Little is known on how urbanization affects pollinators. Two studies were conduct...
The current pollination crisis has made the importance of pollination clear. The effects of this crisis have been mainly linked to agriculture. Many studies have focused on the way agriculture output will respond to this and much effort has been put in the development of mechanisms that could help sustain pollinator populations. However, the positive effect of animal pollination is not only limited to crop plants. Little is known on how urbanization affects pollinators. Two studies were conducted in order to bring light to this subject. First, the pollination success of an entomophilous plant, Lotus corniculatus, was evaluated. The effects of urbanization and different floral surroundings were tested. The second study looked at the way in which plants with different pollinator vectors and dependency on insect pollination were differently distributed in tree basins as the distance towards an urban park and railways increased. Urbanization and floral surroundings were not found to significantly affect the fruit production of L. corniculatus. However, the fruit count was found to be greater in a town with more green areas as well as in horticultural surroundings. The railway was not found to have an effect on plant distribution. However, the number of plant species decreased as the distance towards the park increased, making of it a possible plant source. The proportion of plants pollinated by insects significantly decreased as the distance towards the park increased, the proportion of plants that are always or most commonly insect-pollinated responded in the same way to an augmentation of the distance. The ornamental plants of the park were proven to be efficient attractants of bumblebees. The realization of studies like these ones is important for the development of appropriate management measures that aim to buffer the effect of anthropological perturbations.
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Key Words
URBANIZATIONPOLLINATIONGREEN AREASFLORAL SURROUNDINGS