Data from: Habitat restoration promotes pollinator persistence and colonization in intensively managed agriculture

Widespread evidence of pollinator declines has led to policies supporting habitat restoration including in agricultural landscapes. Yet, little is yet known about the effectiveness of these restoration techniques for promoting stable populations and communities of pollinators, especially in intensively managed agricultural landscapes. Introducing floral resources, such as flowering hedgerows, to enhance intensively cultivated agricultural landscapes is known to increase the abundances of native insect pollinators in and around restored areas. Whether this is a result of local short-term concentration at flowers or indicative of true increases in the persistence and species richness of these communities remains unclear. It is also unknown whether this practice supports species of conservation concern (e.g., those with more specialized dietary requirements). Analyzing occupancies of native bees and syrphid flies from 330 surveys across 15 sites over eight years, we found that hedgerow restoration promotes rates of between-season persistence and colonization as compared with unrestored field edges. Enhanced persistence and colonization, in turn, led to the formation of more species-rich communities. We also find that hedgerows benefit floral resource specialists more than generalists, emphasizing the value of this restoration technique for conservation in agricultural landscapes.

已有大量证据显示传粉者种群衰减，这推动了包括农业景观在内的生境修复相关政策的出台。然而，目前对于这类修复技术在促进传粉者稳定种群与群落构建方面的效果仍知之甚少，在集约化管理的农业景观中这一问题尤为突出。已知在集约化耕作的农业景观中引入开花绿篱等花类资源，可提升修复区域及其周边本土昆虫传粉者的种群丰度，但目前尚不清楚这一现象是传粉者在花源处的短期局部聚集所致，还是反映了该类群群落存续能力与物种丰富度的真实提升。此外，这类修复措施是否能惠及受保护关注物种（如食性特化程度更高的物种）也尚未明确。本研究通过分析8年间对15个样地开展的330次调查所得的本土蜂类与食蚜蝇占据数据，发现相较于未修复的田埂边缘，绿篱修复可提升传粉者的季间存续与定植速率。而存续与定植能力的提升，进而促成了物种更为丰富的群落形成。本研究同时发现，绿篱对花资源特化物种的益处要大于泛化物种，这进一步凸显了该修复技术在农业景观保护中的应用价值。