Strengthening pollination services in Korla fragrant pear in China

Samenvatting

The pollination services provided by pollinators (e.g., honeybees and wild bees) are of great importance for fruit production in oasis areas in Xinjiang, China, but there are reports that farmers are hand-pollinating their fruit indicating that pollination services are currently inadequate. In this thesis, I selected the Korla fragrant pear (hereafter “KFP”) as the study objective and assessed the pollination deficit, pollinator communities, and the contribution of pollinators to the pollination of KFP. The possible management strategies to strengthen the pollination services of KFP also were explored. The findings of this research are essential to inform more ecologically based orchard management at the field and landscape scale to better capitalize on pollination services provided by pollinators.