title: Agricultural policies exacerbate honeybee pollination service supply-demand mismatches across Europe.
abstract: Declines in insect pollinators across Europe have raised concerns about the supply of pollination services to agriculture. Simultaneously, EU agricultural and biofuel policies have encouraged substantial growth in the cultivated area of insect pollinated crops across the continent. Using data from 41 European countries, this study demonstrates that the recommended number of honeybees required to provide crop pollination across Europe has risen 4.9 times as fast as honeybee stocks between 2005 and 2010. Consequently, honeybee stocks were insufficient to supply >90% of demands in 22 countries studied. These findings raise concerns about the capacity of many countries to cope with major losses of wild pollinators and highlight numerous critical gaps in current understanding of pollination service supplies and demands, pointing to a pressing need for further research into this issue.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tom D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Breeze
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Avignon, France.
authors.forename: Bernard E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Vaissière
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bommarco
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece.
authors.forename: Theodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Petanidou
authors.affiliation: Cyprus Agricultural Research Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus.
authors.forename: Nicos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Seraphides
authors.affiliation: Department of Nature Conservation, Zoology and Game Management, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Lajos
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kozák
authors.affiliation: Animal Ecology Team, Alterra, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scheper
authors.affiliation: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jacobus C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Biesmeijer
authors.affiliation: Animal Ecology Team, Alterra, Wageningen, The Netherlands ; Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kleijn
authors.affiliation: Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, Institution for Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Steen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gyldenkærne
authors.affiliation: Community Ecology Research Unit Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moretti
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holzschuh
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ingolf
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Steffan-Dewenter
authors.affiliation: Trinity Centre for Biodiversity Research, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
authors.forename: Jane C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Stout
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Meelis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pärtel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zobel
authors.affiliation: Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Simon G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Potts
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D005060:Europe; D005843:Geography; D006722:Honey; D057766:Policy; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology*