Study
Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey bee abundance
Garibaldi, Lucas A.; Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf; Winfree, Rachael; Aizen, Marcelo A.; Klein, Alexandra M.
Science, 2013
Fruit set was measured across 41 crop systems on every inhabited continent, comparing the contribution of wild insect visits with that of managed honey bee visits at the same sites.
- Studied in
- Apis mellifera, Bombus
- Sample size
- 41 crop systems across 600 fields worldwide
Wild insect visits improved fruit set in every system examined, while honey bee visits improved it in only 14% of them. Adding honey bees supplemented wild pollination but did not substitute for it.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Wild pollinator communities make a distinct and substantially larger contribution to crop production than managed honey bees, and cannot be replaced by them.
How NatureHQ reads it
The most important correction available on this subject. "Save the bees" almost always means honey bees, which are a managed livestock species in no danger of extinction — while the wild pollinators doing most of the actual work are declining. This is the study that makes the distinction quantitative rather than rhetorical, across 600 fields on six continents.
- Observational across many systems; site conditions vary in ways not fully controlled.
- Fruit set is one measure of pollination success and not the only one.
- Does not identify which wild species matter most in any given system.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of SciencePublished in Science or Science Advances (AAAS).
doi.org/10.1126/science.1230200
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-09.