Urban gardens found to have higher pollination success than rural gardens

Abstract: Recent decline in wild pollinators have been reported and studies have found a connection to increasing urbanisation, larger homogenous landscapes and increased pesticide usage. The pollinators are important to preserve for various ecosystem services, such as plant reproduction, however the effects on pollination success has not been thoroughly studied in relation to urbanisation. In this study the aim is to examine how much the seed set is influenced by method of pollination (hand or open pollination), type of landscape and the surrounding vegetation cover. Brown knapweed, Centaurea jacea plants were placed in rural and urban gardens, and were allowed to flower for 1-2 weeks. There was a variation in the vegetation cover surrounding the urban gardens, where the brown knapweed plants were distributed to. Thereafter the seeds and unfertilized ovules were counted. The urban gardens had higher mean seed set and vegetation cover did not influence seed set. In conclusion, the rural areas were negatively affecting pollinators and the urban areas may have the potential to act as a source of pollinators to peri-urban and rural areas nearby.