McCarthy James K, Richardson Sarah J, Houliston Gary J, Etherington Thomas R, McGlone Matt S, Ausseil Anne-Gaelle E
Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Wellington Central, Wellington, New Zealand.
Ecol Appl. 2025 Apr;35(3):e70041. doi: 10.1002/eap.70041.
Floral resources are important food resources for pollinators. These resources are produced in different quantities depending on land cover and plant species composition, and the quantity of production varies seasonally. As such, land use change and management of natural resources can have substantial impacts on conservation through resource provision for pollinators, and also commercial enterprises through resources for honeybee hives which require adequate forage to be successful. In New Zealand, locations with vegetation that produce high-value honey also suffer from overcrowding of hives, as beekeepers compete for this valuable resource. At present, there is a lack of quantitative spatial data describing the production of these resources, especially over large spatial scales. Here, using maps of land cover and environment, and a large vegetation plot dataset, we show that the provision of floral resources for pollinators can be estimated spatially at national scales. These maps can be used to estimate the consequences of changing land cover, both historical and with future management actions, and to understand potential threats to floral resource provision. We find that the production of floral resources across New Zealand is highly seasonal, and overwhelmingly produced by indigenous land cover types, especially within public conservation land. Within forests, we show that floral production is dominated by a small number of plant families. Our results show the importance of native land cover for the provision of floral resources for commercial honeybee enterprises and also native pollinators. We anticipate our results will be a starting point to inform management decisions regarding the placement and stocking density of honeybee hives, and also the concession process for honeybee permits on public land. We also show how the restoration of woody ecosystems on cleared land can benefit the conservation of native pollinators by providing abundant and high-quality forage across all seasons.
花卉资源是传粉者重要的食物来源。这些资源的产量因土地覆盖类型和植物物种组成而异，且产量会随季节变化。因此，土地利用变化和自然资源管理会通过为传粉者提供资源对生物保护产生重大影响，同时也会通过为蜂箱提供资源对商业企业产生重大影响，因为蜂箱需要充足的草料才能成功运作。在新西兰，能产出高价值蜂蜜的植被区域也面临蜂箱过度拥挤的问题，因为养蜂人都在争夺这一宝贵资源。目前，缺乏描述这些资源产量的定量空间数据，尤其是在大空间尺度上。在此，我们利用土地覆盖和环境地图以及一个大型植被样地数据集表明，在国家尺度上可以对传粉者的花卉资源供应进行空间估算。这些地图可用于估计土地覆盖变化（包括历史变化和未来管理行动导致的变化）的后果，并了解花卉资源供应面临的潜在威胁。我们发现，新西兰各地的花卉资源产量具有高度季节性，且绝大多数由本土土地覆盖类型产出，特别是在公共保护土地内。在森林中，我们表明花卉生产主要由少数植物科主导。我们的结果表明了本土土地覆盖对于商业蜜蜂企业和本土传粉者获取花卉资源的重要性。我们预计我们的结果将成为一个起点，为有关蜂箱放置和放养密度的管理决策提供信息，也为公共土地上蜜蜂养殖许可的审批过程提供信息。我们还展示了在开垦土地上恢复木本生态系统如何通过在所有季节提供丰富且高质量的草料来有益于本土传粉者的保护。
