Final Report Secure Pollination for More Productive Agriculture: Guidelines for effective pollinator management and stakeholder adoption Project leader: Jill Whitehouse Delivery partner: AgriFutures Australia, Australian National University, University of Adelaide, University of New England and University of Sydney Project code: PH16004 Hort Innovation – Final Report Project: Secure Pollination for More Productive Agriculture: Guidelines for effective pollinator management and stakeholder adoption PH16004 Disclaimer: Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (Hort Innovation) makes no representations and expressly disclaims all warranties (to the extent permitted by law) about the accuracy, completeness, or currency of information in this Final Report. Users of this Final Report should take independent action to confirm any information in this Final Report before relying on that information in any way. Reliance on any information provided by Hort Innovation is entirely at your own risk. Hort Innovation is not responsible for, and will not be liable for, any loss, damage, claim, expense, cost (including legal costs) or other liability arising in any way (including from Hort Innovation or any other person’s negligence or otherwise) from your use or non-use of the Final Report or from reliance on information contained in the Final Report or that Hort Innovation provides to you by any other means. Funding statement: This project is being delivered by Hort Innovation – with support from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program – and AgriFutures Australia, Australian National University, University of Adelaide, University of New England, University of Sydney and contributions from the Australian Government. Publishing details: ISBN 978 0 7341 4682 3 Published and distributed by: Hort Innovation Level 7 141 Walker Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Telephone: (02) 8295 2300 www.horticulture.com.au © Copyright 2021 Horticulture Innovation Australia Rural R&D for Profit Program Securing Pollination for more Productive Agriculture: Guidelines for effective pollinator management and stakeholder adoption Final Report 2 March 2021 Katja Hogendoorn, Romina Rader, Saul Cunningham, Ben Oldroyd, Tanya Latty, Julian Brown, Michael Holmes, Nick Gellie, Scott Groom, Andrew Tokmakoff, Patrick O’Connor, Korjent van Dijk, Andy Lowe This project is supported by AgriFutures Australia, though funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program, as well as Horticulture Innovation Australia, Australian National University, University of Adelaide, University of New England, University of Sydney, Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board, Almond Board of Australia, Apple and Pear Growers Association (SA), Australian Mango Industry Association, Australian Melon Association, Costa, Department of Environment Water and Natural Resources SA, Greening Australia, Lucerne Australia, Native Vegetation Council, Natural Resources Northern and Yorke, O’Connor NRM, Primary Industries and Resources SA, Raspberries and Blackberries Australia, South Australian Apiarist Association, Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network Eco-informatics and Trees For Life. Contents Contents Rural R&D for Profit Program............................................................................................................................................. 1 Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1 Project rationale and objectives .......................................................................................................................... 7 2 Methods and project locations ............................................................................................................................. 9 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Assessing our capital: the crop pollinators ........................................................................................... 9 2.3 Understanding the threats to pollination security: ........................................................................... 9 2.4 Designing an investment strategy ............................................................................................................. 9 2.5 Outputs and extension ................................................................................................................................ 10 2.6 Regions, crops and locations .................................................................................................................... 11 3 Project Outcomes .................................................................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Assessing our capital: The Crop Pollinators ...................................................................................... 12 3.2 Understanding the threats to pollination security .......................................................................... 26 3.3 Designing an investment strategy to support pollinator security and resilience .............. 44 3.4 Advice to enhance pollinators around crops ..................................................................................... 60 4. Contribution to program objectives ............................................................................................................... 71 4.1 The extent to which the activity achieved the project objective ............................................... 71 4.2 How the project contributes to the achievement of the overall program objective ......... 71 4.3 How the project recommendations improve pollination security and resilience ............. 72 5. Collaboration ............................................................................................................................................................ 74 6. Extension and adoption activities ................................................................................................................... 76 7. Lessons learnt .......................................................................................................................................................... 84 8. Appendix - additional project information .................................................................................................. 85 Project, media and communications material and intellectual property ............................................ 85 Equipment and assets ................................................................................................................................................ 85 Monitoring and evaluation ...................................................................................................................................... 85 Budget .............................................................................................................................................................................. 85 Outputs ............................................................................................................................................................................ 86 9. References ................................................................................................................................................................. 90 2 3 Summary Introduction The reliability and security of crop pollination services is at risk, for two main reasons: A decrease in floral support for pollinators in the landscape due to habitat clearing, agricultural intensification and climate change, leading to increased and more intense droughts and heatwaves; An increase in the reliance on a single pollinator species for crop pollination services. To enhance pollination security, now and in the future we need to diversify our pollinator portfolio and reduce threats to existing pollinator species. Achieving that requires evidence- based decision making. This project aimed to collect and disseminate the background information needed to design meaningful action to enhance pollination security and resilience for farmers of pollination dependent crops, by developing: an understanding of the identity, density and efficacy of a diverse range of insect flower visitors of eleven pollination dependent crops; an understanding of the nature and extent of the main threats to pollination security; crop and landscape management strategies to secure pollination services in the future. Outcomes and conclusions We identified a wide range of insects that visited the crop flowers, and found that the most efficient and abundant pollinators differed per crop, per region and over time. What they have in common is that they depend on the presence of flowering plants in the landscape. We found that the proximity and composition of native vegetation influences the abundance and diversity of crop pollinating species, with effects noticeable up to ~200 m into the crop. Feral honey bees play a major role in crop pollination, in particular in dryland lucerne and apple. However, in less forested areas, their densities are not high enough to provide all the pollination required, because, in addition