Pollination by wild bees yields larger strawberries than pollination by honey bees

1. A diverse array of wild bee species may provide more effective pollination than the widely employed European honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). High species richness within crop pollinator assemblages has been linked to enhanced fruit and seed yields, but species richness is often confounded with abundance in studies of pollinator communities. 2. We investigated the effects of bee diversity and species identity on pollen deposition and crop yield in the strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) variety Jewel through a field experiment that independently manipulated the species richness and abundance of flower visitors. We used a new pollen deposition measurement technique to determine the pollen contribution of individual bees in an assemblage of flower visits. We compared the performance of wild bee species and managed honey bees, as pollinators of strawberry. We also calculated the influence of species richness, visit frequency, and visitor identity on fruit mass, using the fruit that developed...