red clover

wild bees

nectar

pollen

bumble bees

bee species

tube growth

seed set

floral traits

Basic and Applied Ecology

The region of Kodagu, South India, comprises a fragmented landscape with a high density of remnant forest patches dispersed within a mosaic dominated by shaded coffee agro-forests. We evaluated the role of self, wind and insect pollination to Coffea canephora production in this landscape. The giant Asian honeybee, Apis dorsata, which nests in remnant forests, was the main pollinator of coffee (accounting for 58% of the floral visitors). The proportion of flowers that developed into fruits was highest when hand cross-pollinated (44%), followed by open- (insect and wind combined; 33%) and wind- (22.1%) pollination treatments. Pollination by bees therefore increases fruit production by 50% over that achieved by wind. Self-pollination (1.7%) and no pollination (1%) treatments produced very low fruit set, emphasizing the importance of cross-pollination in C. canephora. Unlike measures of pollination success, initial fruit set (five weeks after flowering) proved an unreliable proxy for final fruit set. Size of adjoining forest fragments (mostly 0.3–20 ha, with a few exceeding 200 ha) positively influenced pollinator visitation to coffee flowers, but distance to such fragments had no influence on pollination. This study demonstrates the importance of cross-pollination for crop production in C. canephora, the important contribution that pollinating insects make to coffee production, and the benefits of relatively large forest fragments within the landscape mosaic to support insect pollinators of coffee. A comparison of pollinator composition to that of 100 years ago indicated that coffee pollination services remained intact despite changes in pollinator community composition. In der Region Kodagu im Süden Indiens findet sich eine fragmentierte Landschaft mit einer hohen Dichte noch vorhandener Waldreste, die mosaikartig in einer Landschaft verteilt sind, die von beschatteten Kaffee-Waldplantagen dominiert wird. In dieser Landschaft verglichen wir die Rollen der Selbst-, Wind- und Insektenbestäubung für die Coffea canepho...

Status of pollinators and their efficiency in coffee fruit set in a fragmented landscape mosaic in South India