Abstract

Pollination is a key ecosystem service which most often has been studied in isolation although effects of pollination on seed set might depend on, and interact with, other services important for crop production. We tested three competing hypotheses on how insect pollination and pest control might jointly affect seed set: independent, compensatory or synergistic effects. For this, we performed a cage experiment with two levels of insect pollination and simulated pest control in red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) grown for seed. There was a synergistic interaction between the two services: the gain in seed set obtained when simultaneously increasing pollination and pest control outweighed the sum of seed set gains obtained when increasing each service separately. This study shows that interactions can alter the benefits obtained from service-providing organisms, and this needs to be considered to properly manage multiple ecosystem services.

Keywords

Bombus; Apion; herbivore; seed predator; pollen limitation

Published in

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
2013, Volume: 280, number: 1753

SLU Authors

• Lundin, Ola

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Rundlöf, Maj

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Bommarco, Riccardo

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2243

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/40810