Tropical Forest Fragments Enhance Pollinator Activity in Nearby Coffee Crops

Abstract: Crop pollination by wild bees is an ecosystem service of enormous value, but it is under increasing threat from agricultural intensification. As with many ecosystem services, the mechanisms, scales, and species through which crop pollination is provided are too poorly understood to inform land‐use decisions. I investigated the role of tropical forest remnants as sources of pollinators to surrounding coffee crops in Costa Rica. In 2001 and 2002 I observed bee activity and pollen deposition rates at coffee flowers along distance gradients from two fragments and one narrow riparian strip of forest. Eleven eusocial species were the most common visitors: 10 species of native meliponines and the introduced…

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  Summit Foundation