Kleczkowski et al revised tracked.pdf (674.88 kB)
Pesticides and bees: ecological-economic modelling of bee populations on farmland
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 06:41 authored by Ciaran Ellis, Nick Hanley, Adam Kleczkowski, Dave GoulsonDave GoulsonProduction of insect-pollinated crops typically relies on both pesticide use and pollination, leading to a potential conflict between these two inputs. In this paper we combine ecological modelling with economic analysis to investigate the effects of pesticide use on wild and commercial bees, whilst allowing farmers to partly offset the negative effects of pesticides on bee populations by creating more on-farm bee habitat. Farmers have incentives to invest in creating wild bee habitat to increase pollination inputs. However, the optimal allocation of on-farm habitat strongly depends on the negative effects of pesticides, with a threshold-like behaviour at a critical level of the impairment. When this threshold is crossed, the population of wild bees becomes locally extinct and their availability to pollinate breaks down. We also show that availability of commercial bees masks the decrease in pollination services which would otherwise incentivise farmers to conserve the wild pollinator population, therefore indirectly leading to local wild bee extinction. The paper demonstrat es the importance of combining ecological modelling with economics to study sustainability in the provision of ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Ecological ModellingISSN
0304-3800Publisher
ElsevierExternal DOI
Issue
24Volume
360Page range
53-62Department affiliated with
- Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-06-13First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-07-14First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-06-14Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC