Pollinators: Fueling the future

Pollinators: Fueling the future

By: Karina L. Delgado

The rapid increase in human population over the past two centuries has contributed to over production of agricultural crops. As a result; it has become essential to implement innovative techniques to enhance agricultural production. Although insects are considered to be a nuisance; they’re essential implications in the agricultural and renewable resource conservation industries cannot be ignored. In fact; research has indicated that animal pollination plays a vital role in the production of 75% of globally valuable crops. Unfortunately; prior studies have revealed that factors such as habitat loss have contributed to a rapid decline in pollinator population. A recent study investigated methods to preserve pollinator population and evaluate their agricultural significance by creating pollinator habitats at utility-scale solar energy (USSE) facilities. This was accomplished by analyzing the pollinator rich agricultural land throughout 48 U.S. states. The electrical generation potential of each location was collected (in (kWh)/m2/day) in accordance with standards established by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Furthermore, the relevance of pollinator-USSE habitats on agricultural production was determined by displacing 1.5 km wide buffers near the parameters of USSE facilities, replicating prior experiments. Crops of interest during this recent study were almonds, soybeans, and cranberries. Essentially, the results of this scientific inquiry indeed revealed that pollinators improved the efficiency of  the agricultural production of almonds, soybeans, and cranberries. Another critical finding of this study was a lack of evidence to support a significant relationship between solar resource potential and agriculturally dependent crops. Advancements in research may be required to fully comprehend the environmental implications of pollinator ecosystem services on agriculture. Potential benefits of pollinator-USSE facilities include fossil fuel preservation as well as an increase in the variety of pollinators in the ecosystem. As with many breakthroughs; there are costs to the benefits. For instance, factors such as increased competition among the bees, spread of disease, and habitat isolation may harm the pollinators in the long run.

 Amount of highly pollinator-dependent agriculture (>40% dependence on insect pollinators) by solar resource potential (kWh/m2/day). As indicated by the relatively low p value of p = 0.602 the relationship between solar resource potential and highly-dependent pollinator agriculture is not significant



                                                            Reference:

Leroy J. Walston, Shruti K. Mishra, Heidi M. Hartmann, Ihor Hlohowskyj, James McCall, and Jordan Macknick. 2018. Examining the Potential for Agricultural Benefits from Pollinator Habitat at Solar Facilities in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology 52 (13), 7566-7576DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b00020