Rutgers has conducted the first study showing how many more species of bees are needed to maintain crop yields when a longer-term time frame is considered.
Rutgers has conducted the first study showing how many more species of bees are needed to maintain crop yields when a longer-term time frame is considered.
In the paper, which was recently published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, scientists said biodiversity of the bee population is critical to maintaining the ecosystem function of crop pollination, which is critical to humanity’s food supply.
“We found that biodiversity plays a key role in the stability of ecosystems over time,” said Natalie Lemanski, lead author on the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS). “You do actually need more bee species in order to get stable pollination services over a growing season and over years.”
Read More at: Rutgers University
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