Insect-mediated pollination improves fruit quality of strawberries in an urban environment

Abstract

Pollination services provided by a diversity of pollinators are critical in agriculture since they enhance the yield of many crops. However, few studies have assessed pollination services in urban agricultural systems. We performed flower-visitor observations and pollination experiments on strawberries, Fragaria × ananassa, in an urban area of Paris, France, in order to assess the effects of (i) insect-mediated pollination service and (ii) potential pollination deficit on fruit set and fruit quality (size, weight, malformation and seed set). Flower-visitor observations revealed that the pollinator community was solely comprised of unmanaged pollinators, despite the presence of apiaries in the surrounding landscape. Based on the pollination experiments, we found that the pollination service mediated by wild insects improved fruit size as a qualitative value of production, but not fruit set. We also found no evidence for pollination deficit in our urban environment. These results suggest that the local community of wild urban pollinators is able to support strawberry crop production, and thus plays an important role in providing high quality, local and sustainable crops in urban areas.