The economic yield of most agricultural and horticultural plants depends on the rate of pollination, yet inadequate pollination is commonplace in many crops. Seed number per fruit and per plant is often the most variable yield component, and the widespread deployment of managed honeybee colonies and other pollinator enhancement practices suggests that pollination shortfalls would be even more common without human intervention. This situation has strong parallels with pollen limitation of maternal reproductive success among wild plants. Can insights into pollen limitation in the wild suggest novel and sustainable ways to improve yields in agricultural settings? The purpose of this talk is to outline the potential and to encourage interest in agricultural pollen limitation among wild pollination ecologists.
Results/Conclusions
Empirical data from wild species shows that flower-to-flower variance in pollen receipt is evolutionarily associated with ovule number, itself associated with empirical measures of pollen limitation. Evenness of pollination among flowers and plants agricultural crops may make an important contribution to economic yield, but research on this feature of crop pollination is limited. Simple manipulation of planting configurations may affect air flow and turbulence around wind-pollinated crops and thus pollination evenness, and simple manipulations that affect flight paths of bees have been shown to vastly increase seed yield of horticultural crops in greenhouses. Breeding system variation among populations of the wild, wind-pollinated Mercurialis annua suggests that there may be advantages in breeding and planting crop plants to mimic androdioecy. The study of pollen limitation among invasive plants may offer insights into how crop plants might best fit into natural pollination networks, allowing agriculture to be more resilient by being less dependent on managed honeybees. In sum, research on pollen limitation in wild plants is a potentially valuable but currently underused source of ideas for future agricultural management.