Global risks posed by hornets to the provision of crop pollination (UIB, IPE-CSIC)

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 1,210 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Herrera C, Sevilla-Callejo M, Leza M, Gallardo B (2025). Global risks posed by hornets to the provision of crop pollination (UIB, IPE-CSIC). Version 2.0. Universitat de les Illes Balears. Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/qmjxeq

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Universitat de les Illes Balears. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 38f7f528-3935-4f61-baf8-c4edcc64a322.  Universitat de les Illes Balears publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Spain.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation; Hornets; Vespa

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

Countries with occurrences

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

Hornets pose significant risks to pollinator-dependent crop production, threatening food security and ecosystem health. This study provides a spatial evaluation of current and future exposure of pollinator-dependent crops to hornet predation, focusing on the potential impacts of their predatory behaviour on insect pollinator populations. More than half of current hornet observations globally are concentrated in areas with high pollination dependent crop production of southern Asia, central Europe, and North America, where they can cause the greatest harm. Up to 6 % of global pollinator-dependent croplands are projected to become hornet hotspots by 2070. Crops under highest exposure to hornets include soybeans in North America, apples in Europe and watermelon in Asia. Hornet expansion, facilitated by global shipping and climate change, increases pressure on insect pollinator populations, negatively affecting crop yields and quality. We emphasize the need for effective management strategies, including early detection and control measures, to mitigate these risks. This research provides critical spatial insights to inform policy decisions aimed at safeguarding pollination services essential for sustainable agriculture.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

we carried out an extensive bibliographic review in search of occurrences present in papers published in English in Google Scholar and Web of Science. We employed keywords such as (“Vespidae” OR “Vespa” OR “hornet”) AND (“occurrence” OR “distribution” OR “native” OR “invasive”) until November 2023 to identify relevant studies. Considering that many events are not published in scientific outlets because they are chance or isolated encounters, we also performed a Google search in English. Some of these occurrences only mentioned the location where individuals were found (village, city, or region), that were georeferenced through the Google Geocoding API, which returns central geo-coordinates.

Method step description:

1. we carried out an extensive bibliographic review in search of occurrences present in papers published in English in Google Scholar and Web of Science. We employed keywords such as (“Vespidae” OR “Vespa” OR “hornet”) AND (“occurrence” OR “distribution” OR “native” OR “invasive”) until November 2023 to identify relevant studies. Considering that many events are not published in scientific outlets because they are chance or isolated encounters, we also performed a Google search in English. Some of these occurrences only mentioned the location where individuals were found (village, city, or region), that were georeferenced through the Google Geocoding API, which returns central geo-coordinates.

Bibliographic Citations

1. Herrera, C., Leza, M., & Gallardo, B. (2025). Global risks posed by hornets to the provision of crop pollination. Journal of Environmental Management, 391, 126471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126471

Additional Metadata