Pollination performance
In agriculture , pollination performance indicates the proportion of biotic and abiotic environmental factors ( insects , sun , wind and water ) in flower pollination or fertilization . A prerequisite for good pollination is the right weather during flowering, which is favorable for both wind pollination and insect pollination.
Pollination by wind
All cross-pollinating grains are wind pollinators, which are best pollinated in dry weather with sufficient wind. In an emergency, wind machines , helicopters or drones can provide support.
Insect pollination
The term pollination is most commonly associated with beekeeping and insects . In commercial farming, a high pollination rate of either naturally existing or artificially z. B. pollinators brought in by beekeepers to higher yields, provided that the pollination is relevant to the yield and the pollinators can use the existing supply of flowers. Some pollinators specialize in certain types and shapes of flowers.
The flight behavior depending on the weather and other environmental influences must also be taken into account. The pollination itself does not provide any information about how much honey yield z. B. generate nectar-collecting insects. In connection with pollinating insects, it rather provides information about how many flowers an insect or a group of insects (e.g. a colony of bees) approached and pollinated in a certain period of time. A bee that seldom or never leaves the beehive naturally has no pollination capacity, but the bee of this colony itself does a pollination service in the group, with the help of which the different species can be compared.
Pollination performance of honey bees
A more recent study shows that the honeybees are not of paramount importance for pollination in agriculture either.
The balance between wild bees and honey bees and thus with intact biodiversity is important for the natural balance . A bee flies out up to 30 times in a day and visits 200-300 flowers per flight.
Pollination performance of wild bees
Wild bees pollinate better than honey bees because they fly at lower temperatures and do not move as far from their nests. A wild bee can pollinate up to 5000 flowers per day. Due to the body weight of a bumblebee , it has to fly in a particularly energy-saving way and therefore flies to flowers at relatively short intervals. Bumblebees attack flowers 3 to 5 times more frequently than honey bees in the same period.
Broadcast reports
- Joachim Budde : Insect decline - cockchafer flew: From the disappearance of insects , Deutschlandfunk - “ Science in focus ” from August 5, 2018
Individual evidence
- ↑ Report. Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance
- ↑ Ecology Evolution
- ↑ Pollination performance of honey bees |. In: FreeTheBees. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014 ; accessed on September 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Meyer-Eppler: German Beekeeping Association e. V. | The process of pollination. Retrieved November 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Badische Zeitung: Wild bee pollinates better
- ↑ The tension between honey bees and wild bees, PDF download ( Memento from July 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive )