INVESTIGADORES
MORALES Carolina Laura
artículos
Título:
Pollinator Dependence of Argentinean Agriculture: Current Status and Temporal Analysis
Autor/es:
CHACOFF NATACHA PAOLA; MORALES CAROLINA LAURA; GARIBALDI LUCAS A.; ASHWORTH LORENA; AIZEN MARCELO ADRIAN
Revista:
The Americas Journal of Plant Sciences and Biotechnology
Editorial:
Global Science Books
Referencias:
Año: 2010 vol. 3 p. 106 - 116
ISSN:
1752-3877
Resumen:
A sizable proportion of agricultural production depends directly or indirectly on animal pollination but estimation of the size of this dependence is missing for most countries.  Here, we evaluate the current status and temporal trends (1961-2007) in pollinator dependency of Argentinian agriculture. Crops were classified in categories according to their pollinator dependence, for which estimations of production, economic and nutritional values were done, also estimations of harvested area, the expected production deficit in the absence of pollinator, the area of compensation needed to cope with this deficit and honey stocks were calculated.  From a total of 68 crops, animal pollination increased directly production in 37 and indirectly in 13.  More than half of the harvested area and total agricultural production corresponded to pollinator dependent crops, a trend highly influenced by the inclusion of soybean as a modestly dependent crop.  Highly pollinator-dependent crops produced 2-4 times more income per hectare than any other crop, and modestly dependent crops bear on average the highest protein and fat content. During the study period the production deficit increased three-fold, reaching 12% in 2007, while the area needed to compensate for these deficiencies attained 24%. Regarding pollination services, indicators are mixed; whereas Argentinian honey-bee stock triplicates from 1961 to 2007, native forest area, a source of pollinator diversity, shrank to more than half since 1940`s.  Experiments testing the degree of pollinator dependency on the quality and quantity of crop production for soybean varieties cultivated in Argentina are urgently needed. Our estimations depict an agriculture that is becoming more dependent on pollinators, but native forests and other native terrestrial habitats, which host most of the country’s pollinator diversity, are decreasing at an alarming rate.