Intensively managed agricultural landscapes often lack suitable habitats to support diverse wildlife, particularly harming pollinator communities. Besides mass flowering crops, remnant patches of natural and semi-natural vegetation may play a key role in maintaining and conserving biodiversity. Yet, the effects of different natural habitats, including forests and grasslands, on different pollinator communities are poorly understood at the landscape scale.
We examined the abundance, richness, and diversity of wild bees and hoverflies, two key pollinator groups, across a land-use gradient spanning forest edges, grassland, wildflower strips, and sunflower monoculture. We also examined the distribution of hoverfly larvae trophic guilds and wild bee nesting traits across the above-mentioned land-use gradient. Finally, we evaluated the impact of landscape structure (forest, grassland, and water cover in the surrounding landscape) on pollinator community composition.
Our results indicate that forest and grassland habitats supported a higher abundance and greater richness of pollinators than wildflower strips and sunflower monocultures. Furthermore, hoverflies were more sensitive to habitat and floristic homogenization than wild bees. Sunflower and wildflower habitats also hosted a lower diversity of larvae trophic guilds and wild bee nesting guilds as compared to forests and grasslands.
Our study suggests that conserving and restoring forest and grassland habitats within agricultural mosaics may serve as the main ‘refuge’ for wild pollinators.