The value of bees to the coffee harvest.
The self-pollinating African shrub Coffea arabica, a pillar of tropical agriculture, was considered to gain nothing from insect pollinators. But I show here that naturalized, non-native honeybees can augment pollination and boost crop yields by over 50%. These findings, together with world coffee-harvest statistics and results from field studies of organically shade-grown coffee, indicate that coffee plants would benefit from being grown in habitats that are suitable for sustaining valuable pollinators.
Roubik
David W
DW
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 34002-0948, USA. roubikd@tivoli.si.edu
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D018533:Biomass; D002489:Central America; D003069:Coffee / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D018514:Plant Structures / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D011058:Pollen / Q000378:metabolism; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D013020:South America
D003069:Coffee