Does a coffee plantation host potential pollinators when it is not flowering? Bee distribution in an agricultural landscape with high biological diversity in the Brazilian Campo Rupestre

Like an "espresso" but not like a "cappuccino": landscape metrics are useful for predicting coffee production at the farm level but not at the municipality level

Coffee farms receive ecosystem services that rely on pollinators and pest predators. Landscape-scale processes regulate the flow of these biodiversity-based services. Consequently, the coffee farms' surrounding landscape impacts coffee production. This paper investigates how landscape structure can influence coffee production at different scales. We also evaluated the predictive utility of landscape metrics in a spatial (farm level) and aspatial approach (municipality level). We tested the effect of landscape structure on coffee production for 25 farms and 30 municipalities in southern Brazil. We used seven landscape metrics at landscape and class levels to measure the effect of landscape structure. At the farm level, we calculated metrics in five buffers from 1 to 5 km from the farm centroid to measure their scale of effect. We conducted a model selection using the generalized linear model (GLM) with a Gamma error distribution and inverse link function to evaluate the impact of landscape metrics on coffee production in both spatial and aspatial approaches. The landscape intensity index had a negative effect on coffee production (AICc = 375.59, p < 0.001). The native forest patch density (AICc = 390.14, p = 0.011) and landscape diversity (AICc = 391.18, p = 0.023) had a positive effect on production. All significant factors had effects at the farm level in the 2 km buffer but no effects at the municipality level. Our findings suggest that the landscape composition in the immediate surroundings of coffee farms helps predict production in a spatially explicit approach. However, these metrics cannot detect the impact of the landscape when analyzed in an aspatial approach. These findings highlight the importance of the landscape spatial structure, mainly the natural one, in the stability of coffee production. This study enhanced the knowledge of coffee production dependence on landscape-level processes. This advance can help to improve the sustainability of land use and better planning of agriculture, ensuring food and economic safety. Furthermore, our framework provides a method that can be useful to scrutinize any cropping system with census data that is either spatialized or not.

Laboratory Risk Assessment of Three Entomopathogenic Fungi Used for Pest Control toward Social Bee Pollinators

The use of fungal-based biopesticides to reduce pest damage and protect crop quality is often considered a low-risk control strategy. Nevertheless, risk assessment of mycopesticides is still needed since pests and beneficial insects, such as pollinators, co-exist in the same agroecosystem where mass use of this strategy occurs. In this context, we evaluated the effect of five concentrations of three commercial entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, and Cordyceps fumosorosea, by direct contact and ingestion, on the tropical stingless bees Scaptotrigona depilis and Tetragonisca angustula, temperate bee species, the honey bee Apis mellifera, and the bumble bee Bombus terrestris, at the individual level. Furthermore, we studied the potential of two infection routes, either by direct contact or ingestion. In general, all three fungi caused considerable mortalities in the four bee species, which differed in their response to the different fungal species. Scaptotrigona depilis and B. terrestris were more susceptible to B. bassiana than the other fungi when exposed topically, and B. terrestris and A. mellifera were more susceptible to M. anisopliae when exposed orally. Interestingly, increased positive concentration responses were not observed for all fungal species and application methods. For example, B. terrestris mortalities were similar at the lowest and highest fungal concentrations for both exposure methods. This study demonstrates that under laboratory conditions, the three fungal species can potentially reduce the survival of social bees at the individual level. However, further colony and field studies are needed to elucidate the susceptibility of these fungi towards social bees to fully assess the ecological risks.

Effects of pollination on the composition of volatile compounds in Coffea arabica L

BACKGROUND

Pollination enhances coffee quality at the material level, improves the symbolic attributes of coffee and promotes sustainability. The objective of this work was to quantify the composition of volatile compounds in roasted coffee produced in the presence and absence of biotic pollination, aiming at investigating the effects of pollination on the composition of volatile compounds in coffee beans. This is the first report of its kind in the literature.

RESULTS

The analysis of volatile compounds in roasted coffee beans showed that pollination increased the amount of volatile compounds in the beans; there was a significant increase in the amount of the following classes of compounds: pyrazines, pyrroles, pyridines, alcohols and phenols. Considering that most volatile compounds in roasted coffee are derived from reactions involving carbohydrates, proteins, chlorogenic acids and some alkaloids, our hypothesis is that pollinated coffee beans are better prepared for germination and for defense of the crop against attack by external agents.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study point to the important role played by sustainable practices implemented in coffee cultivation. The results obtained in this study pave the way toward the conduct of further investigations, including the analysis of the chemical composition of aroma precursors and volatile compounds in raw coffee beans, and the study of the sensory aspects of roasted coffee. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Towards integrated pest and pollinator management in tropical crops

Biotic pollination and pest control are two critical insect-mediated ecosystem services that support crop production. Although management of both services is usually treated separately, the new paradigm of Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management (IPPM) suggests synergetic benefits by considering them together. We reviewed the management practices in two major tropical perennial crops: cocoa and coffee, to assess IPPM applications under the tropics. We found potential synergies and antagonisms among crop pest and pollination management, however, very few studies considered these interactions. Interestingly, we also found management practices focusing mainly on a single service mediated by insects although species can show multiple ecological functions as pests, natural enemies, or pollinators. The tropics represent a promising area for the implementation of IPPM and future research should address this concept to move towards a more sustainable agriculture.