Proceedings of the XII International Scientific Agricultural Symposium “Agrosym 2021” 911 INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON INSECT POLLINATORS IN NORTHERN SERBIA Zlata MARKOV RISTIĆ1*, Dušanka VUJANOVIĆ2 1University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology and Ecology, Novi Sad, Serbia 2University of Novi Sad, BioSense Institute, Novi Sad, Serbia. *Corresponding author: zlata.markov@dbe.uns.ac.rs Abstract One of the major consequences of anthropogenic influence is the evident decrease in the diversity and number of insect pollinators. Being highly vulnerable ecosystem service, mainly due to agricultural intensification, the spread of diseases and parasites, and pesticide pollution, loss of pollinator diversity may lead to loss of other species that directly or indirectly rely on them and could have significant economic impacts by reducing crop pollination services. In this study, we examined the relationship between environmental variables (altitude, distance from the nearest agricultural area, grazing intensity, and mowing) on the composition and abundance of pollinator species. Pollinators were sampled on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the Republic of Serbia, on four types of habitats categorised according to the CORINE land cover classification as classes 2.1.1 Non-irrigated arable land, 2.4.3 Land principally occupied by agriculture, with significant areas of natural vegetation, 3.1.1 Broad- leaved forest and 3.2.1 Natural grassland. Our results showed a significant correlation between the composition of pollinator species and the overall set of environmental factors. We found that forest, followed by grassland habitats, had the most diverse pollinator communities. Localities under grazing and mowing appeared to be less diverse in pollinators, whereby agricultural areas had the lowest pollinator diversity. Our findings suggest that the diversity of pollinators is highly influenced by land use and confirm the importance of forest habitats in agricultural landscapes such as Vojvodina Authonomous Province in Serbia as important refuge habitats for foraging and nesting of pollinators. Keywords: pollinator diversity, pollinator abundance, habitat types, land use. Introduction Insect pollinators provide essential ecosystem services by pollinating over 85% of all known plant species (Grimaldi and Engel, 2005; Ollerton et al., 2011). A wide range of plants whose survival depends on pollination include crops, fruits, nuts, vegetables and cereals (Gordon and Davis, 2003; Klein et al., 2007). Furthermore, many plant species are more sensitive to the deficiency of pollinators than to the lack of other resources (Burd, 1994; Ashman et al., 2004). Insect pollination is vital for agricultural food production and sustenance of 80% of wild plant species (Potts et al., 2010). When it comes to the impact of pollination on agricultural production, Williams (1994) states that 84% of the crops grown in Europe are directly dependent on pollination, and Klein et al. (2007) claim that 87 crops, which is 70% of the 124 key plant species that humans use directly in their diet worldwide, have a dependence on insect pollinators. Habitat and climate changes caused by anthropogenic factors have a negative impact on many taxa, including pollinators. Given the declining diversity and abundance of pollinators (Dias et