Global malnutrition overlaps with pollinator-dependent micronutrient production.

Pollinators contribute around 10% of the economic value of crop production globally, but the contribution of these pollinators to human nutrition is potentially much higher. Crops vary in the degree to which they benefit from pollinators, and many of the most pollinator-dependent crops are also among the richest in micronutrients essential to human health. This study examines regional differences in the pollinator dependence of crop micronutrient content and reveals overlaps between this dependency and the severity of micronutrient deficiency in people around the world. As much as 50% of the production of plant-derived sources of vitamin A requires pollination throughout much of Southeast Asia, whereas other essential micronutrients such as iron and folate have lower dependencies, scattered throughout Africa, Asia and Central America. Micronutrient deficiencies are three times as likely to occur in areas of highest pollination dependence for vitamin A and iron, suggesting that disruptions in pollination could have serious implications for the accessibility of micronutrients for public health. These regions of high nutritional vulnerability are understudied in the pollination literature, and should be priority areas for research related to ecosystem services and human well-being.

Chaplin-Kramer R ，Dombeck E ，Gerber J ，Knuth KA ，Mueller ND ，Mueller M ，Ziv G ，Klein AM ... -  《-》

Global agricultural productivity is threatened by increasing pollinator dependence without a parallel increase in crop diversification.

The global increase in the proportion of land cultivated with pollinator-dependent crops implies increased reliance on pollination services. Yet agricultural practices themselves can profoundly affect pollinator supply and pollination. Extensive monocultures are associated with a limited pollinator supply and reduced pollination, whereas agricultural diversification can enhance both. Therefore, areas where agricultural diversity has increased, or at least been maintained, may better sustain high and more stable productivity of pollinator-dependent crops. Given that >80% of all crops depend, to varying extents, on insect pollination, a global increase in agricultural pollinator dependence over recent decades might have led to a concomitant increase in agricultural diversification. We evaluated whether an increase in the area of pollinator-dependent crops has indeed been associated with an increase in agricultural diversity, measured here as crop diversity, at the global, regional, and country scales for the period 1961-2016. Globally, results show a relatively weak and decelerating rise in agricultural diversity over time that was largely decoupled from the strong and continually increasing trend in agricultural dependency on pollinators. At regional and country levels, there was no consistent relationship between temporal changes in pollinator dependence and crop diversification. Instead, our results show heterogeneous responses in which increasing pollinator dependence for some countries and regions has been associated with either an increase or a decrease in agricultural diversity. Particularly worrisome is a rapid expansion of pollinator-dependent oilseed crops in several countries of the Americas and Asia that has resulted in a decrease in agricultural diversity. In these regions, reliance on pollinators is increasing, yet agricultural practices that undermine pollination services are expanding. Our analysis has thereby identified world regions of particular concern where environmentally damaging practices associated with large-scale, industrial agriculture threaten key ecosystem services that underlie productivity, in addition to other benefits provided by biodiversity.

Aizen MA ，Aguiar S ，Biesmeijer JC ，Garibaldi LA ，Inouye DW ，Jung C ，Martins DJ ，Medel R ，Morales CL ，Ngo H ，Pauw A ，Paxton RJ ，Sáez A ，Seymour CL ... -  《-》

Prevalence of micronutrient malnutrition worldwide.

Ramakrishnan U 《NUTRITION REVIEWS》

Long-term global trends in crop yield and production reveal no current pollination shortage but increasing pollinator dependency.

Aizen MA ，Garibaldi LA ，Cunningham SA ，Klein AM ... -  《CURRENT BIOLOGY》

Effects of decreases of animal pollinators on human nutrition and global health: a modelling analysis.

Anthropogenic declines of animal pollinators and the associated effects on human nutrition are of growing concern. We quantified the nutritional and health outcomes associated with decreased intake of pollinator-dependent foods for populations around the world. We assembled a database of supplies of 224 types of food in 156 countries. We quantified nutrient composition and pollinator dependence of foods to estimate the size of possible reductions in micronutrient and food intakes for different national populations, while keeping calorie intake constant with replacement by staple foods. We estimated pollinator-decline-dependent changes in micronutrient-deficient populations using population-weighted estimated average requirements and the cutpoint method. We estimated disease burdens of non-communicable, communicable, and malnutrition-related diseases with the Global Burden of Disease 2010 comparative risk assessment framework. Assuming complete removal of pollinators, 71 million (95% uncertainty interval 41-262) people in low-income countries could become newly deficient in vitamin A, and an additional 2.2 billion (1.2-2.5) already consuming below the average requirement would have further declines in vitamin A supplies. Corresponding estimates for folate were 173 million (134-225) and 1.23 billion (1.12-1.33). A 100% decline in pollinator services could reduce global fruit supplies by 22.9% (19.5-26.1), vegetables by 16.3% (15.1-17.7), and nuts and seeds by 22.1% (17.7-26.4), with significant heterogeneity by country. In sum, these dietary changes could increase global deaths yearly from non-communicable and malnutrition-related diseases by 1.42 million (1.38-1.48) and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) by 27.0 million (25.8-29.1), an increase of 2.7% for deaths and 1.1% for DALYs. A 50% loss of pollination services would be associated with 700,000 additional annual deaths and 13.2 million DALYs. Declines in animal pollinators could cause significant global health burdens from both non-communicable diseases and micronutrient deficiencies. Winslow Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Smith MR ，Singh GM ，Mozaffarian D ，Myers SS ... -  《-》