Plant provenance influences pollinators

Earth bumblebee covered with pollen from field scabious. WWU - Peter Leßmann Insect decline is one of the greatest challenges facing our society. As a result of the destruction of many natural habitats, bees, bumblebees, butterflies, beetles and the like find less and less food. As a consequence, they are barely able to fulfil their role as pollinators of wild and cultivated plants. This trend is increasingly noticeable in agricultural regions in particular. Researchers at the University of Münster have now taken a more detailed look at how the choice of seeds in restoration measures - i.e. the restoration of natural habitats at degraded land - affects how insects benefit from these measures. Here, not only the plant species plays an important role, but so does the geographical provenance of the seeds used - because the provenance influences not only insect diversity but also how often the pollinators visit flowers.