| Title |
Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Oecologia, February 2012
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00442-012-2271-6 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Riccardo Bommarco, Lorenzo Marini, Bernard E. Vaissière |
| Abstract |
The relationships between landscape intensification, the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects, and their contributions to crop yield, quality, and market value are poorly studied, despite observed declines in wild and domesticated pollinators. Abundance and species richness of pollinating insects were estimated in ten fields of spring oilseed rape, Brassica napus var. SW Stratos™, located along a gradient of landscape compositions ranging from simple landscapes dominated by arable land to heterogeneous landscapes with extensive cover of semi-natural habitats. In each field, we assessed the contribution of wind and insect pollination to seed yield, seed quality (individual seed weight and oil and chlorophyll contents), and market value in a block experiment with four replicates and two treatments: (1) all flowers were accessible to insects, self and wind pollination, and (2) flowers enclosed in tulle net bags (mesh: 1 × 1 mm) were accessible only to wind and self pollination. Complex landscapes enhanced the overall abundance of wild insects as well as the abundance and species richness of hoverflies. This did not translate to a higher yield, probably due to consistent pollination by honey bees across all fields. However, the pollination experiment showed that insects increased seed weight per plant by 18% and market value by 20%. Seed quality was enhanced by insect pollination, rendering heavier seeds as well as higher oil and lower chlorophyll contents, clearly showing that insect pollination is required to reach high seed yield and quality in oilseed rape. Our study demonstrates considerable and previously underestimated contributions from pollinating insects to both the yield and the market value of oilseed rape. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 473 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| France | 5 | 1% |
| United States | 4 | <1% |
| United Kingdom | 4 | <1% |
| Canada | 3 | <1% |
| Brazil | 2 | <1% |
| Indonesia | 1 | <1% |
| Germany | 1 | <1% |
| Australia | 1 | <1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 4 | <1% |
| Unknown | 447 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 90 | 19% |
| Researcher | 89 | 19% |
| Student > Master | 81 | 17% |
| Student > Bachelor | 40 | 8% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 20 | 4% |
| Other | 64 | 14% |
| Unknown | 89 | 19% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 249 | 53% |
| Environmental Science | 77 | 16% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 6 | 1% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 5 | 1% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 4 | <1% |
| Other | 21 | 4% |
| Unknown | 111 | 23% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 16. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 May 2020.
All research outputs
#2,244,041
of 25,837,817 outputs
Outputs from Oecologia
#311
of 4,909 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#16,301
of 258,541 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Oecologia
#1
of 18 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,837,817 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 90th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,909 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 258,541 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 18 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.