The benefits of animal pollination to crop yield are well known. In contrast, the effects of animal pollination on the spatial or temporal stability (the opposite of variability) of crop yield remain poorly understood. We use meta-analysis to combine variability information from 215 experimental comparisons between animal-pollinated and wind- or self-pollinated control plants in apple, oilseed rape and faba bean. Animal pollination increased yield stability (by an average of 32% per unit of yield) at between-flower, -plant, -plot and -field scales. Evidence suggests this occurs because yield benefits of animal pollination become progressively constrained closer to the maximum potential yield in a given context, causing clustering. The increase in yield stability with animal pollination is greatest when yield benefits of animal pollination are greatest, indicating that managing crop pollination to increase yield also increases yield stability. These additional pollination benefits have not yet been included in economic assessments but provide further justification for policies to protect pollinators.

中文翻译：

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动物授粉提高作物产量在空间尺度上的稳定性

动物授粉对作物产量的好处是众所周知的。相比之下，动物授粉对作物产量的空间或时间稳定性（与可变性相反）的影响仍然知之甚少。我们使用荟萃分析来结合来自 215 次动物授粉和风授粉或自花授粉对照植物在苹果、油菜和蚕豆中的实验比较的变异性信息。动物授粉提高了花间、植株间、地块和田间规模的产量稳定性（每单位产量平均提高 32%）。有证据表明，发生这种情况是因为动物授粉的产量效益逐渐受到限制，接近给定背景下的最大潜在产量，从而导致集群。当动物授粉的产量效益最大时，动物授粉的产量稳定性增加最大，这表明管理作物授粉以增加产量也会增加产量稳定性。这些额外的授粉效益尚未包括在经济评估中，但为保护授粉媒介的政策提供了进一步的理由。