Can pastureland increase wild bee abundance in agriculturally intense areas?

Synopsis: Agricultural intensification and expansion are major present and future causes of global ecosystem disruption. Natural and semi-natural reserve areas in agroecosystems are thought to be important for preservation of essential ecosystem services such as pollination, but data about land use patterns and pollinator abundance are lacking. We assessed wild bee populations in canola fields in an agriculturally intense area where virtually all land was either tilled agricultural fields or semi-natural grazed pasturelands, with the expectation that mosaics of land use types may better support ecosystem services than homogenous crop areas. Fields were chosen in two categories, five with little or no pastureland (<6%) and five with [...]