Soybean biotic pollination and its relationship to linear forest fragments of subtropical dry Chaco

ZELAYA, PATRICIA; CHACOFF, NATACHA; ARAGÓN, ROXANA; BLENDINGER, PEDRO G

BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY

ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG

Año: 2018 vol. 32 p. 86 - 95

1439-1791

2018AbstractThe delivery of ecosystem services, such as biotic pollination is a benefit that nature provides us. Pollinators increase thequantity, quality and stability of crops for food production. Previous works show that proximity to natural habitats increases cropproduction through the delivery of pollination services. However, similar researches in subtropical regions is largely lacking. Inthis study we evaluated the role of linear forest fragments (LFFs) on the provision of biotic pollination service to soybean crops(Glycine max) and explored whether this service changes with increasing distance to LFFs in subtropical dry Chaco (Argentina).In three agricultural farms and testing two soybean varieties, we covered plots of 0.75 m2with soybean plants and comparedthem with equally sized open plots. Plots were placed near (60 m) and far (600 m) from LFFs. We found that plants from theopen treatment produced 32% more pods, 41% more seeds and had 42% higher yield (kg/ha) than plants from the covered plots.The difference between open and covered plots in seeds and yield did not change significantly with the distance to LFFs, butthe number of pods, contrary to what we expected, was higher far from LFFs. Our findings highlight the possible impact ofpollinators on soybean yield in both varieties tested here; but the proximity to LFFs was not directly related to a larger differencein production. Observed patterns are explained by edge effects and competition between soybean plants and trees near LFFs,combined with an underestimation of the distance from the natural hives to which honeybees can efficiently exploit the crops.In this subtropical region, soybean expansion is the most important driver of land cover change and this study represents a firststep towards a better understanding of the functioning of these remnants of natural areas within the agricultural land in theregion of dry Chaco forests.