Abstract:Evaluation of the ecosystem service ability of pollination on crop and its spatial pattern scientifically as well as the corresponding management measures have significances on improvement of human welfare protection and sustainable utilization of living pollination resources.
The wild pollinators need both fitting nesting sites and enough pollen and nectar resources. The evaluation model was based on different types of land use/cover. It used the availability of nesting sites and pollen and nectar resources which have important effect on wild pollinators′ habitat and simulate its suitability of distribution (habitat quality index). It used the focal analysis method to simulate the potential quantity index of pollinator which flied to specific crops (the ability of pollination service) by integrating the max distance that wild pollinators travel to forage on flowers and the distribution of crops which need pollination.
Taking the native wild Apis cerana Fabricius in Laojunshan Yunnan Province as an example, the simulated results of this model showed that the average habitat quality index of wild Apis cerana Fabricius in forest was the highest (2.24×10-2) because most wild Apis cerana Fabricius nested in tree cavities or earth cavities in forest of sunlit side and forest with abundant pollen and nectar resources. On the contrary, the average habitat quality index of wild Apis cerana Fabricius in cultivated vegetation area was the lowest (0.37×10-2) because the cultivated vegetation area had high intensity of human disturbance thus the natural environment and living condition were relatively poor.
In the western study area, the farming region was scattered distribution which all located in Laojunshan National Nature Reserve thus pesticide and chemical fertilizer was rarely applied. It had abundant pollen and nectar resources and nesting sites supplied by the surrounding natural forest. The study area in eastern has lower relief on landform and larger population. The farming region was concentrated distribution and the vegetation type was single and surrounded by the secondary forest that had larger spatial obstacles of pollination. Therefore, from the holistic point of view, the spatial distribution pattern of ecosystem service ability was higher in the western area than in the eastern.
In order to increase the farming region′s pollination ability in the eastern area, improving the plant diversity on ridges of crop land was suggested. The concrete measures were planting considerable amount of herbaceous plants and (or) retaining a specific number of forest or wild weeds coexisted with crops. On the other hand, it should attach the importance to protection of natural vegetation surrounding the crop land in eastern, especially the natural forest resource.