Plant-pollinator interactions and bee functional diversity are driven by agroforests in rice-dominated landscapes

In conclusion, agroforests provide important food and nesting resources for bees that translate into taxonomically and functionally diverse pollinator communities as well as stable pollinator visitation networks. These cultivation systems should therefore be maintained or expanded to ensure pollination services and biodiversity conservation. On the contrary, rice fields provide habitat for only few generalist bee species and flower visitation is reduced in isolated rice fields, possibly also leading to impaired pollination of wild plants and crops. Connectivity between bee habitats located in rice production areas is probably disrupted even after a few hundred meters and should therefore be promoted by measures like flower strips in rice fields.