Pollination is increasingly considered jeopardized in almost all terrestrial environments. Reproduction of the world’s dominant flora links angiosperms and all life, including human, and depends on healthy vegetation. Thus, conservation for pollination must be a high priority for the future. Even though pollination is an ancient and apparently well-buffered process, pesticides and habitat fragmentation have eroded the integrity of this complex mutualistic ecosystem process. In this chapter, I discuss the needs, ways, and means for conserving, understanding, and managing pollination and pollinators in agricultural settings. Changing agricultural practices, intensification in some places, deintensification in others, present challenges in pollination, as do changes in cropping systems and use of new cultivars and crops. There is management potential for diversification of pollinators (more species and selection of superior lines of those now in use) and their applications (for crop production and protection by dissemination of biocontrol agents). Moreover, there are risks and benefits that can, and should, be assessed for potential imports of exotic pollinators. The role of pollination in genetically modified crops and the evolution of “superweeds” need attention by qualified scientists. The catalytic effect of assemblages of pollinators, rather than single species, for crop production is considered in the context of ecosystem stability and productivity.
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Chapter 12: Pollination for the 21st Century: Integrating Pollinator and Plant Interdependencies
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