Sweat bees on hot chillies: provision of pollination services by native bees in traditional slash-and-burn agriculture in the Yucatan Peninsula of tropical Mexico

摘要

1. Traditional tropical agriculture often entails a form of slash-and-burn land management that may adversely affect ecosystem services such as pollination, which are required for successful crop yields. The Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico has a >4000year history of traditional slash-and-burn agriculture, termed milpa'. Hot Habanero' chilli is a major pollinator-dependent crop that nowadays is often grown in monoculture within the milpa system.