Pollination mitigates cucumber yield gaps more than pesticide and fertilizer use in tropical smallholder gardens

1. Pollination can be an essential but often neglected ecosystem service to mitigate crop yield gaps. Pollination services are usually studied in isolation and their relative role and possible interactions with other factors, such as major management practices, is little understood. 2. We tested how pollination (insect versus wind- and self-pollination) interacts with weed control, fertilization, and insect herbivore control and how these factors as well as flower-visiting bees influence fruit set and yield of cucumber Cucumis sativus L. in 13 traditional Indonesian home gardens. 3. Although insect pollination, fertilization, and weed control additively increased crop yield, fertilization and weed control alone could not compensate for pollination loss. Pollination individually accounted for 75% of the yield and was, hence, the most important driver of yield. In contrast, herbivore control through insecticides at commonly applied levels did not increase yield. 5. Yield strongly increase...