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Pollinators, pests and soil properties interactively shape oilseed rape yield

View ORCID ProfileIgnasi Bartomeus, View ORCID ProfileVesna Gagic, View ORCID ProfileRiccardo Bommarco
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/010181
Ignasi Bartomeus
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
2Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Dpto. Ecología Integrativa, ES-41092, Sevilla, Spain.
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  • For correspondence: nacho.bartomeus@gmail.com
Vesna Gagic
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
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Riccardo Bommarco
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
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Summary

  1. Pollination, pest control, and soil properties are well known to affect agricultural production. These factors might interactively shape crop yield, but most studies focus on only one of these factors at a time.

  2. We used 15 winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) fields in Sweden to study how variation among fields in pollinator visitation rates, pollen beetle pest attack rates and soil properties (soil texture, pH and organic carbon) interactively determined crop yield. The fields were embedded in a landscape gradient with contrasting proportions arable and semi-natural land.

  3. Pollinator, pest and soil property variables formed bundles across the sites. In general, pollinator visitation and pest levels were negatively correlated and varied independently of soil properties. Because above- and below-ground processes reacted at contrasting spatial scales, it was difficult to predict bundle composition based on the surrounding landscape structure.

  4. The above-ground biotic interactions and below-ground abiotic factors interactively affected crop yield. Pollinator visitation was the strongest predictor positively associated with yield. High soil pH also benefited yield, but only at lower pest loads. Surprisingly, high pest loads increased the pollinator benefits for yield.

  5. Synthesis and applications Implementing management plans at different spatial scales can create synergies among bundles of above- and below-ground ecosystem processes, but both scales are needed given that different processes react to different spatial scales.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.
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Posted October 09, 2014.
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Pollinators, pests and soil properties interactively shape oilseed rape yield
Ignasi Bartomeus, Vesna Gagic, Riccardo Bommarco
bioRxiv 010181; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/010181
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Pollinators, pests and soil properties interactively shape oilseed rape yield
Ignasi Bartomeus, Vesna Gagic, Riccardo Bommarco
bioRxiv 010181; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/010181

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