The economic insurance value of wild pollinators in almond orchards in California
نویسندگان
چکیده
September 2, 2016 Biodiversity can provide an economic insurance value against the uncertain provision of ecosystem services for risk-averse economic agents. For uncertain pollination services, we determine the risk premium and the economic insurance value of wild pollinators in almond orchards for a risk-averse farmer. For this, we describe pollination services as a distribution, which can be analysed by statistical methods. Thus, we determine the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and skewness of the distribution. Further, we develop an ecological-economic model to determine the risk premium and insurance value of wild pollinators in general, and apply this model to empirical data on flower visits of honeybees (Apis mellifera) and wild pollinators such as several wild bee species (e.g., Andrena spp., Osmia spp.) and other wild insect pollinator species to almond trees in California. Results show that wild pollinating species can both increase or decrease the riskiness of a pollination distribution. That is, it is dependent on the measure for variance (standard deviation or coefficient of variation) that is evaluated. Thus, wild pollinators can or cannot have an insurance value depending on the riskpreferences of the economic agent. JEL-Classification: Q57, Q12
منابع مشابه
Norfolk, Olivia and Eichhorn, Markus P. and Gilbert, Francis (2016) Flowering ground vegetation benefits wild pollinators and fruit set of almond within arid smallholder orchards. Insect Conservation
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