Do sown flower strips boost wild pollinator abundance and pollination services in a spring-flowering crop? A case study from UK cider apple orchards

Our results demonstrate that flower strips enhanced overall wild insect abundance but not pollination services in cider orchards. Positive effects of ground flora on wild insect abundance in orchards suggest that flower mixtures or orchard management could be optimised for andrenid bees, the single most important pollinator taxa, by increasing the availability of early-flowering plants in orchards. Equally, wild insect richness was highest in areas close to semi-natural habitats. Therefore, whilst flower strips can boost abundance of the existing species pool, only large scale preservation of (semi-) natural habitat will maintain pollinator diversity in apple orchards.