Insects and cranberries: Understanding floral resources for wild pollinators around cranberry farms

In Quebec, cranberry farms are encouraged to protect green areas to support local biodiversity. Floral edges, commonly used to increase habitat heterogeneity, create biodiversity hotspots within agricultural habitats. Moreover, pollination services increase inside agricultural beds when near floral plantings. However, current knowledge about the specific wild pollinators present and the roles they play within these systems remains incomplete. Therefore, we analyzed plant-insect networks around organic and conventional cranberry bogs to gain deeper insights into ecosystem functioning across varied farm management practices.

Our study revealed a higher abundance of insects in organic farms, primarily belonging to Hymenoptera and Diptera. Predominantly, these were generalist species from the families Halictidae and Syrphidae, with Asteraceae identified as the most abundant flower family these insect groups interacted with. Surprisingly, we did not observe a correlation between flower abundance and farm management, indicating that floral diversity does not necessarily decrease around conventional farms. Lastly, we found that plant-pollinator networks displayed nestedness and modularity.

In essence, exploring the intricacies of plant-pollinator networks along floral edges in cranberry farms offers valuable insights into the stability of these ecological communities and, consequently, into the pollination services they provide for the cranberry industry.