Proximity to Natural Habitat Is Not Consistently Associated With Pollination Services in Tropical Smallholder Farms: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Proximity to natural habitat is known to enhance pollination services in large-scale agriculture, but it remains unclear whether this holds in tropical smallholder farms. These systems are embedded in ecologically complex landscapes, central to global food security, and depend heavily on biodiversity-derived ecosystem services. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 35 studies assessing the relationship between distance to natural habitat and pollinator abundance, species richness, and crop fruit set in tropical smallholder farms. We found no consistent patterns in pollinator abundance and crop fruit set with increasing distance, with relationships highly variable across studies. Similarly variable, yet slightly negative, was the relationship between distance and pollinator species richness. Our findings suggest limited support for the 'proximity to natural habitat' hypothesis in tropical smallholder farms, indicating that the inherent complexity of these landscapes may buffer negative effects of distance on pollination. This underscores the importance of maintaining and restoring landscape complexity to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services such as crop pollination. We also highlight the need for greater methodological consistency and publicly available raw data in future studies to strengthen the evidence base and support management strategies for safeguarding pollination services in tropical smallholder farms.
Authors
- Tegegne Molla Sitotaw (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3709-8852)
- Thomas Cherico Wanger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0435-1153)
- Chris J. Kettle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9476-0136)
- F. J. Frank van Veen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0708-5492)
- Iris Motzke
- Juliana Hipólito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0721-3143)
- Mark E. Harrison (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0729-8407)
- Tuanjit Sritongchuay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0706-7673)
- Théodore Munyuli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3795-1374)
- Manuel Toledo‐Hernández (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4863-8727)
- Teja Tscharntke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4482-3178)
- Cassandra Vogel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4975-1134)
- Eunice Enríquez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1603-0744)
- Matt Lloyd Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5841-4554)
- Christopher N. Kaiser‐Bunbury (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7254-3491)
- Jaboury Ghazoul (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8319-1636)
- José Javier G. Quezada‐Euán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9804-2561)
- Annika L. Hass (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3377-4622)
- Barbara Gemmill‐Herren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4991-640X)
- Smitha Krishnan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2851-6813)
- Poornima Viswanathan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9139-6554)
- Anderson Oliveira Latini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1070-8657)
- Rodrigo Lucas‐García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6279-2950)
- E. Bosshard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1566-2045)
- Pornpimon Tangtorwongsakul (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1321-6970)
- Hugo Eduardo Fierros‐López (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1213-7018)
- Parthiba Basu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8942-0161)
- Muo Kasina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4983-4546)
- Catrin Westphal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2615-1339)
- Alexandra‐Maria Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2139-8575)
- Diana Obregón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6582-9149)
- Mónica E. Riojas‐López (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2246-3519)
- Víctor Rosas‐Guerrero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3248-4508)
- Kanuengnit Wayo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3860-2125)
- Julian Schrader (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8392-211X)
- Natalia Escobedo‐Kenefic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2296-0961)
- Olivier Honnay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4287-8511)
- Quebin Bosbely Casiá‐Ajché (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1672-644X)
- Katrine Hartung Hansen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5471-711X)
- John E. Banks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6793-7613)
- Bo Dalsgaard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2867-2805)
- Patricia Landaverde‐González (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9636-3292)
- Fernando Severiano‐Galeana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5185-7616)
- Kevin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7677-8682)
- Aditi Dutta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8393-6394)
- Deepthi Narasimhaiah
- Nagaraja Badenahally Chikkarangappa
Institutions
- Huachiew Chalermprakiet University (TH)
- University of Calcutta (IN)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- California State University, Monterey Bay (US)
- Alliance Bioversity International - CIAT (IT)
- Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (GT)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Universidad de Guadalajara (MX)
- Cornell University (US)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero (MX)
- Department of Environment and Natural Resources (PH)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Hospital Madre Teresa (BR)
- Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KE)
- Evolutionary Genomics (United States) (US)
- Autonomous University of Yucatán (MX)
- Federal University of São João del-Rei (BR)
- Unidad de Cirugía Cardiovascular de Guatemala (GT)
- Agroscope (CH)
- Centro Universitário de Sete Lagoas (BR)
- Vale Technological Institute (BR)
- Keystone Foundation (IN)
- Ammann (Switzerland) (CH)
- China Agricultural University (CN)
- Bangalore University (IN)
- Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO)
- World Agroforestry Centre (KE)
- Bahir Dar University (ET)
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (GT)
- Walailak University (TH)
- Macquarie University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Ecology Letters
- Published
- 2025-12-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70229
- Primary Topic
- Plant and animal studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers