Reduced crop density increases floral resources to pollinators without affecting crop yield in organic and conventional fields

Effective weed control in agricultural crop fields increases yields, but simultaneously reduces floral resources for pollinators because many weed species provide pollen and nectar. Consequently, efforts to enhance crop yields on organic farms by using effective weed control methods risk compromising positive effects of organic farming on pollinating insects. Thus, it is important to find management strategies that alleviate the trade-off between crop yields and flowering weeds on organic farms.
We investigated the relationship between cereal yields, flowering weeds and bumblebees on organic and conventional arable land. We also investigated the potential of adjusting crop sowing density to benefit flowering weed species richness and floral resources to bumblebees without affecting crop yield.
Floral resources and species richness of flowering weeds were higher in organic compared to conventional fields and were negatively related to crop yield in organic but not conventional fie...

农田中实施高效杂草防控虽可提升作物产量，却会同时缩减传粉昆虫可获取的花源资源——因多数杂草物种可为其提供花粉与花蜜。据此，有机农场通过高效杂草防控手段提升作物产量的举措，可能会削弱有机农业对传粉昆虫的正向增益效应。因此，亟需探寻能够缓解有机农场内作物产量与开花杂草间权衡关系的农田管理策略。
本研究针对有机与常规耕作农田，探究了谷物产量、开花杂草与熊蜂三者间的关联。同时，本研究还探讨了在不影响作物产量的前提下，通过调整作物播种密度，以提升开花杂草物种丰富度及熊蜂可利用花源资源的可行性。相较于常规耕作农田，有机农田的花源资源与开花杂草物种丰富度均更高；且在有机农田中，二者与作物产量呈负相关关系，但在常规农田中未发现此类关联。