Abstract
Stable production of crops depends on pollination services provided by animals. Although crop production is more stable in pollinator-independent crops than in pollinator-dependent crops at the global scale, the situation at the local scale is unknown. Here, we investigated the relationship between pollinator dependence and production stability of 40 crops in Japan and show that the global relationship does not apply at the local scale, i.e., most pollinator-dependent crops showed stable production and most pollinator-independent showed instable production possibly because of local policies and agricultural practices. Examining relationships at the local scale will help establish effective local management of pollination services and crop production.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-15-2 Predicting and Assessing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services, PANCES) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan and Ministry of Agriculture Forstry and Fisheries of Japan (Research project for Monitoring and enhancement of pollinators for crop production). We would like to thank Masahiro Aiba, Takehiro Sasaki, Kyohei Matsushita and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.
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Handled by Osamu Saito, UNU-Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability Institute of Sustainability and Peace, Japan.
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Oguro, M., Taki, H., Konuma, A. et al. Importance of national or regional specificity in the relationship between pollinator dependence and production stability. Sustain Sci 14, 139–146 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0637-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0637-3