Pollination and biological control services in Korla pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd)

Abstract: Pollinators and natural enemies provide the ecosystem services of pollination and biological pest control in agro-ecosystems. Both services are of great importance for fruit production in oasis areas in Xinjiang province, China, but there are reports that farmers are hand-pollinating their fruit while pests are intensively controlled with insecticides. This may indicate that both pollination and biocontrol services are inadequate. There is, however, a lack of scientifically-based evidence on the actual effectiveness of pollination and biological pest control in Xinjiang, and on the abundance and diversity of beneficial insects. The aim of our research is to determine whether there is indeed a shortage of pollination and biological pest control in this unique agro-ecological context, and point out pathways towards strengthening if there are deficits in ecosystem service provisioning. We will assess pollination and biological services in Korla pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd) and aim to relate these services to abundance and diversity of service providing insects. The role of native bees and natural enemies will be determined. Land use will be analysed to determine whether there is sufficient non-crop resource habitat suitable for beneficial insects. Farmer surveys will be carried out to assess the use of artificial pollination and insecticides. Our first experiments show that fruit set rate with hand-pollination (78%) was substantially higher than with open-pollination (11%), indicating a substantial shortfall in pollination services. This research will continue in the coming field seasons to collect a strong dataset to answer our research questions.