Economic and ecological implications of geographic bias in pollinator ecology in the light of pollinator declines
Economic and ecological implications of geographic bias in pollinator ecology in the light of pollinator declines
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.00949.x
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发表时间：
2014-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Nicolson, S. W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Archer, C. R.;Pirk, C. W. W.;Nicolson, S. W.
了解传粉者减少的原因和后果是生态学研究的优先事项。然而，在地球仪的大部分地区，我们有一个贫穷的理解传粉者组合，人口趋势和生态和经济的重要性，特定的传粉者，由于一个显着的地理偏见的研究工作。在这里，我们发现，在最近的13个荟萃分析中引用的数据中，几乎有一半是在五个国家收集的：澳大利亚，巴西，德国，西班牙和美国。相比之下，整个非洲大陆只贡献了4%的数据。我们认为，这种地域偏见的后果是严重的。最重要的是，这些地区的传粉者组合（以及它们对生态驱动因素的敏感性）可能有很大差异。此外，许多依赖授粉者，特别是蜜蜂，来实现粮食安全和创造财富的社区，都位于我们对授粉的理解很差的地理区域。在缺乏数据的地区收集传粉者种群的准确信息将使我们能够识别脆弱的种群和物种，从而更好地采取有针对性的保护措施。此外，它将帮助我们确定，我们目前对传粉媒介损失的理解，是基于在一些地方收集的数据和在这些地区占主导地位的物种，是生态系统的广泛多样性的代表。我们提出了收集这些数据的社会经济限制的手段。
Understanding the causes and consequences of pollinator declines is a priority in ecological research. However, across much of the globe we have a poor understanding of pollinator assemblages, population trends and the ecological and economic importance of particular pollinators, due to a marked geographic bias in research effort. Here, we show that almost half the data cited in thirteen recent meta-analyses, which ask important and diverse questions in pollination ecology, were collected in just five countries: Australia, Brazil, Germany, Spain and the USA. In contrast, the entire continent of Africa contributed only 4% of the data. We believe that the consequences of this geographic bias are severe. Foremost, pollinator assemblages (and possibly their sensitivity to ecological drivers) can greatly vary among these regions. In addition, many communities that rely on pollinators, bees in particular, for food security and wealth generation are in geographic regions where our understanding of pollination is poor. Collecting accurate information on pollinator populations in data deficient areas will allow us to identify vulnerable populations and species and so better target conservation measures. Moreover, it will help us to determine if our current understanding of pollinator losses, based on data collected in a few locations and on the species that predominate in those regions, is representative of the wide diversity of ecosystems. We propose means of collecting such data given socioeconomic constraints.