Spatial Overlap Between Bees and Pollinator-Dependent Crops in Europe and North America

Abstract

Pollination is a crucial service provided by ecosystems, playing a critical role in global food production within agricultural landscapes. The successful pollination of crops by insects requires the spatial coexistence of these two entities. However, an assessment of the spatial overlap between pollinating insects and crops that depend on pollinators has not been conducted in, Europe and North America. To address this challenge, we employed species distribution models (SDMs) to generate distribution maps for 394 bee species in Europe and 697 in North America, along with maps for 41 pollinator-dependent crops. Using Schoener's D statistics and a binary approach, we calculated the spatial overlap between crops and bees. Notably, there was a significant disparity in the overlap patterns between bees and crops in Europe and North America, with Europe exhibiting a higher degree of overlap compared to North America. Specifically, in Europe, the mean overlap based on Schoener's D for all crops was 0.55, while based on the binary approach, this overlap increased to 17.5%. In North America, the mean overlap based on Schoener's D was 0.35 for all crops and the binary overlap indicated a mean overlap of 9.4%. Our findings also pinpointed hotspots for bees, primarily situated in the western regions of Europe and both the western and eastern regions of the United States in North America. It is crucial to note that spatial overlap between plants and pollinators is just one facet of the conditions necessary for species interaction and does not directly imply actual pollination. Nevertheless, this study provides a comprehensive perspective on the potential spatial mismatch between crops and bees.