Autochthonous Melliferous Plants. 2021. illus. 238 p. gr8vo. Hardcover.- Bilingual (English and Slovenian).

Today, people often think they are self-sufficient and can survive without nature. But that is not true. In nature, we find raw materials that we eat, use to build cities, use for clothing, curing diseases and more. Human life depends on nature and its organisms, and only in coexistence with them will human civilisation survive. Loss of habitat, fragmentation and degradation of the environment (Ouborg et al. 1991, Franklin 1980, Charlesworth & Charlesworth 1987, Barrett & Kohn 1991, Cane 2001 Laurance 2010, Bennet & Saunders 2010, Kosi 2013), excessive exploitation of environmental resources, invasive species, environmental pollution, intensive agriculture, expansion of urban areas, and subsequent climate change are the main factors causing a decrease of plant biodiversity throughout the world (Corlett 2016, APA 2019).

The decrease in plant diversity also results in a decrease in animal diversity, as plants either form habitats for them or are their food. A decrease of plant diversity particularly affects pollinators, as pollen and nectar represent their food. Different groups of pollinators (bees, butterfl ies, beetles, flies, etc.) and even individual species within groups can be specialised for feeding on a particular plant species or family (Kearns & Inouye 1997, Armbruster 2016). The absence of an individual plant species can therefore cause the absence of a specific pollinator.

The decrease of species diversity subsequently also affects people, because as many as 800 species (including sorts) of cultivated plants are pollinated by animals (Nicholls & Altieri 2013, ELO, EISA & ECP 2013). If there is no natural habitat in the vicinity of monoculture plantations, the density and species diversity of pollinators is lower. Plants in large monoculture plantations bloom for a specific time, thereby providing food for a limited time only. With the absence of natural pollinators, plants subsequently do not produce fruit or seed, thereby reducing the yield per hectare. For example, in certain parts of China, apple and pear tree flowers need to be pollinated by hand due to the reduction of diversity and the number of wild bees.

Wild bees have disappeared because of intensive use of pesticides and the degradation of their natural habitats. Hand pollination is very demanding, time-consuming and expensive (Goulson 2012). Furthermore, for successful pollination of orchards by natural pollinators, it is also important to grow plant species under or near trees, which will provide food and home for pollinators outside the blooming season of fruit trees. They found that the quantity of fruit increased signifi cantly when more or less natural habitats of pollinators were left in the vicinity of orchards and under the fruit trees (Sheffield et al. 2016).