Variety is the spice of life

摘要

Farmers often use hives lull of honeybees to help pollinate crops. A new study published in Science has found that encouraging wild pollinators could be more effective. Fifty researchers led by Lucas Garibaldi of the Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro in Argentina studied the comings and goings of wild pollinators and managed colonies of bees on 41 different crops, ranging from coffee to grapefruit, almonds, cherries and kiwi fruit, in 19 countries around the world. They found that pollination by wild insects, such as bees, beetles, flies and butterflies, resulted in a much higher proportion of flowers forming seeds or fruits.