Complementarity between Apis mellifera and wild pollinators in 'Lorena' avocado fruit set in the Colombian Llanos foothills

Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is a crop strongly reliant on insect-mediated pollination; however, the complementary roles of Apis mellifera and wild pollinators in tropical agroecosystems requires further understanding. To identify the factors that enhance avocado pollination, we quantified the effect of managed A. mellifera on fruit set and assessed the diversity of wild pollinators and their complementary contribution in 'Lorena' avocado orchards located in the Andean foothills of Casanare, Colombia. Fruit set was evaluated through a controlled pollinator exclusion experiment with three treatments: (1) total exclusion, (2) access to wild pollinators, and (3) access to wild pollinators plus A. mellifera. Floral visitor diversity and visitation rates were assessed through direct observations conducted before and after the introduction of A. mellifera hives. Fruit set differed significantly among treatments, increasing progressively from total exclusion to the combined presence of wild pollinators and A. mellifera. Visitation rates increased markedly between sampling periods, with A. mellifera visitation increasing eightfold (from 0.82 to 6.94 visitors per flower) and Meliponini visitation increasing twenty-threefold (from 0.0128 to 0.2913 visitors per flower). Our results demonstrate synergistic effects of pollinator diversity on avocado fruit production, indicating that the combined management of A. mellifera and the conservation of wild pollinator communities maximizes pollination services and enhances avocado productivity in tropical agricultural systems.