Bumblebees benefit from faba bean cultivation

Date:
September 10, 2020
Source:
University of Go"ttingen
Summary:
About one third of payments received by farmers are linked
to 'greening measures' to promote biodiversity. These have
been criticized because the benefits for biodiversity are
unclear. Researchers investigated whether the cultivation of faba
beans (Vicia faba - broad bean or fava bean) can support wild
bees. They found that bumblebees benefit from cultivating faba
beans, while other wild bees depend on semi-natural habitats.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== About one third of the payments received by farmers are linked to
specific "greening measures" to promote biodiversity. The cultivation of nitrogen-fixing legumes is very popular. However, these measures have
been criticized because the benefits for biodiversity are unclear. Now
a team from the University of Go"ttingen, the Julius Ku"hn Institute
and the Thuenen Institute in Braunschweig has investigated whether the cultivation of the faba bean (Vicia faba -- also known as the broad
bean or fava bean) can support wild bees. It turns out that bumblebees
benefit from the cultivation of faba beans, while all other wild bees
depend on the presence of semi-natural habitats. The results of the
study have been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.


==========================================================================
The researchers recorded wild bees in various German agricultural
landscapes for the study. In one half of the landscapes, conventionally
farmed faba beans were cultivated; in the other half there were no bean
fields. "The nectar of the faba bean is hidden deep in the flowers and
is only easily accessible to larger bees with long tongues, such as
bumblebees. We therefore wanted to investigate how groups of wild bees,
which differ in their external appearance, react to the cultivation
of faba beans and whether they can benefit from it," says first author
Nicole Beyer from the Functional Agrobiodiversity Group at the University
of Go"ttingen. The study results show that there were more than twice
as many bumblebees in the faba bean landscapes than in the landscapes
without beans. In contrast, the cultivation of beans did not affect
other wild bees. However, these other wild bees benefited from a high proportion of semi- natural habitats.

"Our research clearly showed that certain bee species can be supported
by similar measures in farmed areas. But the benefits depend strongly on
the characteristics of the crop and pollinator. In order to encourage the widest possible range of species, we propose a combination of measures:
the cultivation of various flowering arable crops such as faba beans and
the promotion or preservation of semi-natural habitats with a diverse
range of flowers and nesting sites for many other wild bees," concludes Professor Catrin Westphal, Head of Functional Agrobiodiversity at the University of Go"ttingen.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Go"ttingen. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Nicole Beyer, Doreen Gabriel, Felix Kirsch, Katharina
Schulz‐Kesting, Jens Dauber, Catrin Westphal. Functional
groups of wild bees respond differently to faba bean ( Vicia faba
L.) cultivation at landscape scale. Journal of Applied Ecology,
2020; DOI: 10.1111/1365- 2664.13745 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910110834.htm

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