Data from: Influence of agricultural intensification on pollinator pesticide exposure, food acquisition and diversity
Data files
May 17, 2024 version files 52.27 KB
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Pesticide_data.csv
39.64 KB
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README.md
2.73 KB
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Site_level_data.csv
1.76 KB
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Species_data.csv
8.15 KB
Abstract
Pollinators are essential for maintaining sustainable crop production, while the decline of pollinators is a widespread concern. Agricultural intensification is one of the primary drivers of the decline of insect pollinators. Agricultural intensification usually involves a decreasing of non-crop semi-natural habitat and an increasing of pesticide exposure for pollinators. However, causal links between agricultural intensification, increased pesticide exposure, and reduced pollinator’s food sources and pollinator diversity remain underexplored.
We assessed pollinator diversity across a landscape gradient where the proportion of rice ranged from 11% to 85% in South China. We placed honeybee (Apis mellifera) and mason bee (Osmia excavata) in these landscapes and investigated pesticide exposure in honeybee foragers and pollen, and in mason bee pollen and nesting materials. We also assessed the acquisition of food by mason bees.
We found a higher frequency of pesticide detection in honeybee foragers and honeybee pollen samples in areas with a higher proportion of rice fields. There was a strong positive relationship between mason bee food acquisition and the proportion of semi-natural habitats, while no significant effects of pesticide exposure on pollinator diversity were found in addition to the effect of semi-natural habitat.
Synthesis and applications: Our results suggest that pollinator communities could be at an increased risk of pesticide exposure due to intensified agriculture, while the negative impact on pollinator diversity mainly results from the loss of habitat and/or reduced food sources. This study highlights the importance of conserving semi-natural habitat to mitigate the causes of decline in pollinator diversity. We also recommend long-term, multi-year studies to further understand the mechanisms behind the loss of pollinators in farming landscapes.
Summary
This is the data from: Xiaoyu Shi, Changsheng Ma, Joop de Kraker, Shanxing Gong, Jenny A. Hodgson, Shudong Luo, Jozef J. M. van der Steen, Haijun Xiao, Fang Wang, Xiaowei Tie, Zheng Chen & Yi Zou (2024) Influence of agricultural intensification on pollinator pesticide exposure, food acquisition and diversity. Accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Ecology
Creator
Yi Zou, Department of Health Environmental Sciences, School of Science, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China. email: yi.zou.1@hotmail.com
Description
The dataset contains three documents:
Pesticide data.csv
is the data for pesticide residual; each of the column refers to the following:
Site: Site ID
Date: Date of the sample collection
Sample.type: Type of the sample
Acetochlor…Thiamethoxam: Detected pesticide residual (ppm)Species data.csv
is the number of individuals for each species sampled by pan traps; each of the column refers to the following:
Site: Site ID
Year: Year of the sample collection
Andrena hikosana…Plutella xylostella: Species name (values are number of individuals)Site level data.csv
contains landscape information, biodiversity, pesticide exposure and food acquisition for each site; each of the column refers to the following (NA: not available):
Site: Site ID
Rice200: Percentage of Rice at 200m radius (center based on the location of bee hive)
Rice600: Percentage of Rice at 600m radius (center based on the location of bee hive)
Rice1000: Percentage of Rice at 1000m radius (center based on the location of bee hive)
SNH200: Percentage of semi-natural habitat at 200m radius (center based on the location of bee hive)
SNH600: Percentage of semi-natural habitat at 600m radius (center based on the location of bee hive)
SNH1000: Percentage of semi-natural habitat at 1000m radius (center based on the location of bee hive)
SNH1000_2: Percentage of semi-natural habitat at 1000m radius (center based on the location of pan trap)
Rare: Rarefied species richness
Hff: Honey bee forager pesticide detection frequency
Hfq: Honey bee forager PHQ
Hpf: Honey bee pollen pesticide detection frequency
Hpq: Honeybee pollen PHQ
Mnf: Mason bee nesting material detection frequency
Mnq: Mason bee nesting material PHQ
Mpf: Mason bee pollen ball pesticide detection frequency
Mpq: Mason bee pollen ball PHQ
Osmiaper: Average number of pollen balls in each tube of each site
Osmiato: Number of pollen balls in each site
Osmiatu: Number of tubes occupied by mason bee of each site