DOI: 10.5061/dryad.c866t1gb6
title: Smart orchard design improves crop pollination

description: 1. More sustainable and environmentally-friendly agricultural practices,
 including ecological intensification, are needed to reduce biodiversity
 loss and environmental degradation. 2. We evaluated the potential of
 ecological intensification through the enhancement of pollination services
 in an intensively managed and insect-pollinated crop, Macadamia
 integrifolia. We compared the effects and importance of agronomic
 practices that include agronomic input (i.e. irrigation and managed
 honeybees), orchard design requiring no external inputs (i.e. spatial
 orchard structure) and landscape factors in ten South African macadamia
 orchards. 3. In comparison to experimental pollinator exclusion, insect
 pollination increased the initial and final nut set by 304% and 23%,
 respectively. However, nut set was pollination limited as hand pollination
 further improved nut set. 4. Flower visitation rates increased with the
 cover of semi-natural habitats in the surrounding landscape (1km radius).
 This effect was outperforming the effect of the number of managed honeybee
 colonies, as agronomic practice. 5. Initial nut set increased with orchard
 design and flower visitation rates. Perpendicular orientation of the
 planted macadamia rows towards the semi-natural habitats increased initial
 nut set more than threefold compared to parallel row orientation. The
 initial nut set was 80% higher at the edge to semi-natural habitats than
 in the orchard centre. In contrast, agronomic practices, such as
 irrigation, did not increase initial nut set. 6. Final nut set depended on
 the preconditions of the initial nut set, additionally, high altitudes and
 the position in the centre of the orchard had positive effects. 7.
 Synthesis and applications. Pollination services were prerequisites for
 high yields in macadamia and could be improved without further agronomic
 input. Especially, the orchard design, i.e. spatial arrangement of tree
 rows and semi-natural habitats at local and landscape scales, was more
 important to boost insect pollination and the initial development of
 macadamia nuts than agronomic practices, such as high levels of
 irrigation. Considering the urgency to reduce the environmental impacts of
 agricultural production, we highlight the high potential of ecological
 intensification by a smart orchard design and the restoration and
 conservation of semi-natural habitats in the orchards and their
 surrounding landscape.
description: Please see the README document
 ("README_Data-set_SmartOrchardDesignImprovesCropPollination.txt") and the accompanying published article: Anders, M., Grass, I., Linden, V. M. G., Taylor, P. J., & Westphal, C. (2023). Smart orchard design improves crop pollination. <em>Journal of Applied Ecology</em>, 60, 624–637. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14363
description: The data tables are stored as text files (.csv) and can be opened
 by any text editor, Excel, Numbers or LibreOffice. The
 scripts for the data analysis are written for R and can be opened also by
 any text editor or R.
description: This README file was generated on 2023-09-28 by Mina Anders. GENERAL
 INFORMATION 1. Title of Dataset: Smart Orchard Design Improves Crop
 Pollination 2. Author Information A. Principal Investigators Contact
 Information Name: Catrin Westphal Institution: Georg-August Universtiy
 Göttingen Address: Goettingen, Germany Email:
 catrin.westphal@uni-goettingen.de <br> B. Principal Investigators
 Contact Information Name: Ingo Grass Institution: Universität Hohenheim
 Address: Stuttgart, Germany Email: ingo.grass@uni-hohenheim.de <br>
 C. Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Mina Anders
 Institution: Georg-August Universtiy Göttingen Address: Goettingen,
 Germany Email: mina.anders@uni-goettingen.de 3. Date of data collection
 (single date, range, approximate date): July 2019- 2020 4. Geographic
 location of data collection: Louis Trichard, Limpopo, South Africa 5.
 Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the
 data: * German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
 (http://www.bmbf.de/bmbf/en/) grant number: 01LL1802A , * Deutsche
 Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; Project number 405945293 and 493487387)
 SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data:
 CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain 2. Links to publications that
 cite or use the data: Anders, M., Grass, I., Linden, V.M.G., Taylor, P.J.,
 Westphal, C., 2022. Smart orchard design improves crop pollination.
 Journal of Applied Ecology n/a. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14363 3.
 Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: None 4.
 Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: None 5. Was data derived from
 another source? No A. If yes, list source(s): NA 6. Recommended citation
 for this dataset: Anders, M., Grass, I., Linden, V., Taylor, P.J.
 & Westphal, C. (2022). Data from: Smart orchard design improves
 crop pollination. Dryad Digital Repository.
 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.c866t1gb6 DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1.
 File List: A)bush\_alt\_hive\_temp\_irrigation\_var.csv
 B)Temperatures\_all\_sites\_July\_Sept\_2019.csv
 C)initial\_final\_nut\_set\_2020.csv D)pollinator\_observations\_2019.csv
 2. Relationship between files, if important: temperature values in
 A)bush\_alt\_hive\_temp\_irrigation\_var.csv are derived from data in file
 B)Temperatures\_all\_sites\_July\_Sept\_2019.csv 3. Additional related
 data collected that was not included in the current data package: None 4.
 Are there multiple versions of the dataset? No A. If yes, name of file(s)
 that was updated: C)initial\_final\_nut\_set\_2020.csv i. Why was the file
 updated? obsolete data was deleted ii. When was the file updated?
 2023-09-28
 #########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: bush\_alt\_hive\_temp\_irrigation\_var.csv
 1. Number of variables: 19 2. Number of cases/rows: 10 3. Variable List: *
 pair: The macadamia farms are paired according to their altitude *
 Site\_ID: individual code for each of the ten macadamia farms * Farm: Name
 of the macadamia farm * alt: altitude in m.a.s.l. * latitude: geographical
 location of the study site on the farm * longitude: geographical location
 of the study site on the farm * mean\_temp: mean temperature [°C] during
 the period July - Sept 2019 * min\_temp: minimum temperature [°C] during
 the period July - Sept 2019 * max\_temp: maximum temperature [°C] during
 the period July - Sept 2019 * hive500: number of managed bee hives in 500m
 radius around the study site * hive1000: number of managed bee hives in
 1000m radius around the study site * hive2000: number of managed bee hives
 in 2000m radius around the study site * bush500: cover of semi-natural
 habitiat ("bush") [%] in a 500m radius around the study site *
 bush1000: cover of semi-natural habitiat ("bush") [%] in a 1000m
 radius around the study site * irrigation: irrigation of the study block
 (yes/no) * varieties: number of macadamia varieties or cultivars in the
 study block * age: age of the macadamia trees in the study block * row:
 tree row orientation towards the orchard edge to semi-natural habitats *
 cp: = cross pollination; did the supplementally handpollinated flowers
 recieve pollen from a different variety? 4. Missing data codes: None 5.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
 #########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
 Temperatures\_all\_sites\_July\_Sept\_2019.csv 1. Number of variables: 12
 2. Number of cases/rows: 592 3. Variable List: * Date: Date of the
 measurement in the format MM/DD/YYYY * Time: time of day of the
 measurement e.g. 3= 3.00 a.m., 18= 6.00 p.m. ... * MA: measured
 temperature on study site on farm "MA" in [°C] * S2: measured
 temperature on study site on farm "S2" in [°C] ... * M2:
 measured temperature on study site on farm "M2" in [°C] 4.
 Missing data codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations
 used: None
 #########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: initial\_final\_nut\_set\_2020.csv 1.
 Number of variables: 34 2. Number of cases/rows: 2608 3. Variable List: *
 RacID: Raceme ID, composed of tree ID and a number for the individual
 raceme * final: final nut set, number of nuts/raceme, counted 18–20 weeks
 after flowering * Site\_ID: individual code for each of the ten macadamia
 farms * Tree\_ID: individual code for each of the studied macadamia trees
 * Date\_bagging.poll: the date (DD/MM/YYYY) when the raceme was covered
 with the pollinator exclusion bag or when the supplemental hand
 pollination took place or NA if no treatment was applied * Date\_counting:
 the date (DD/MM/YYYY) when the initial nut set was counted * Raceme:
 individual number of the racemes * length: Raceme length in cm at the date
 of the initial nut set counting * initial: intitial nut set, number of
 nuts/raceme, counted 3-5 weeks after flowering * pos\_in\_tree: position
 of the raceme in the tree, either high (h) &gt; 2m, middle (m) =2m, or
 low (l) &lt;2m above the ground * together\_with: if the raceme was
 bagged, was it enclosed together with other recemes? the raceme numbers
 ale listed in the cell * comment * N: Composed treatment of the columns
 excl\_control (cages around the trees) and pos\_in\_block (position in the
 block) * pos\_in\_block: tree position in the block. Either at the block
 edge to semi-natural habitat (E) or in the block (B), i.e. in 50m distance
 to the block edge * excl\_control: Predator exlusion cages around the
 macadamia trees. Either with exclusion cage (E) or without = control (C) *
 Tr: pollination treatment. open pollination (or rather no treatment = O),
 supplemental hand-pollination (H), pollinator exclusion wiht exclusion
 bags (E) * days\_diff: days between pollination treatment and the cound of
 the initial nut set * pair: The macadamia farms are paired according to
 their altitude * alt: altitude in m.a.s.l. * latitude: geographical
 location of the study site on the farm * longitude: geographical location
 of the study site on the farm * mean\_temp: mean temperature [°C] during
 the period July - Sept 2019 * min\_temp: minimum temperature [°C] during
 the period July - Sept 2019 * max\_temp: maximum temperature [°C] during
 the period July - Sept 2019 * hive500: number of managed bee hives in 500m
 radius around the study site * hive1000: number of managed bee hives in
 1000m radius around the study site * hive2000: number of managed bee hives
 in 2000m radius around the study site * veg500: cover of semi-natural
 habitiat ("bush") [%] in a 500m radius around the study site *
 veg1000: cover of semi-natural habitiat ("bush") [%] in a 1000m
 radius around the study site * orchard500: cover of orchard area [%] in a
 500m radius around the study site * orchard1000: cover of orchard area [%]
 in a 1000m radius around the study site * varieties: number of macadamia
 varieties or cultivars in the study block * dif\_temp: temperature
 difference bewteen the lowest and highest temperature of the study site in
 the measured period * nuts\_per\_len: initial nuts per cm of the raceme
 (=initial / length) * nut\_100flowers: for each variety the number of
 flowers per cm was assessed by measrung 30 reacemes. The initial nut set
 relative to 100 flowers was calulated. 4. Missing data codes: NA 5.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: yes, explained for each
 variable
 ########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: D)pollinator\_observations\_2019.csv 1.
 Number of variables: 14 2. Number of cases/rows: 331 3. Variable List: *
 Site\_ID: individual code for each of the ten macadamia farms * Tree\_ID:
 individual code for each of the studied macadamia trees * Date: date of
 pollinator observation in the format MM/DD/YYYY * time\_slot: 1= morning:
 8 AM–11AM, 2= midday: 11AM–2PM, 3= afternoon: 2PM–5PM * time\_start: begin
 of the observation (duration always 5 min) * time\_end: end of the
 observation * Pos\_in\_tree: position of the observed racemes in the tree:
 high &gt; 2m, low &lt; 2m * sun\_shade: were the observed flowers
 in the sun or in the shade? 4 levels (sun, shade, half-shade, NA) *
 observer: name of the observer * weather: weather conditions during
 observation * obs\_racemes: number of observed racemes * tree\_racemes:
 estimated number of flowering racemes in the macadamia tree * Species:
 name of the observed species * species\_no: abundance of the observed
 species 4. Missing data codes: NA 5. Specialized formats or other
 abbreviations used: None