Pollinator shortage and global crop yield

Figures & data

Figure 1 Mean ± 1 SE of the annual relative growth in yield and cultivated area for crops differing in their pollinator dependence. The lines are linear regressions without considering the 95% dependence group and taking each crop as a replicate. In parenthesis is the number of crops within each group.

Table 1 Annual growth in yield (β_Δyield) and cultivated area (β_Δarea) during 1961–2006 for highly pollinator-dependent crops (i.e., 95% average reduction in yield in the absence of pollinators) in the developed and developing world

Species	Crop	Developed world1		Developing world
		βΔyield (%/yr)	βΔarea (%/yr)	βΔyield (%/yr)	βΔarea (%/yr)
Bertholletia excelsa	Brazil nut, Para nut, Cream nut	-	-	−0.144	1.072
Citrullus lanatus	Watermelon	3.003	−0.921	3.814	3.635
Cucumis melo	Cantaloupe, Melon	1.935	0.554	1.895	3.369
Cucurbita maxima, C. mixta,	Pumpkin, Squash, Gourd,	16.775	−1.150	0.945	5.103
C. moschata, C. pepo	Marrow, Zucchini
Theobroma cacao	Cocoa	-	-	2.085	1.690
Vanilla planifolia, V. pompona	Vanilla	-	-	1.149	6.135

1 Brazil nut, cocoa and vanilla are not commonly cultivated in the developed world and thus do not appear in the FAO statistics.