Brown Awl pollinating a cashew flower. Credits: Aditya Satish
CEROS

Effects of forest cover, temperature and flower abundance on cashew pollinator communities in the northern Western Ghats, India

Timeline: January-September 2025
People: Aditya Satish, Vishal Sadekar, Nandita Madhu, Sanath Manimoole, Rama Narayanan,  Rohit Naniwadekar
Collaborators: Anushka Rege, Vanoshi Forest Homestay

Funding: Godrej Consumer Products Limited, Rainmatter Foundation, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies

What we do?

Large areas of natural forest in the northern Western Ghats have been converted into cashew plantations. This extensive forest conversion, along with potentially associated changes in local microclimate, is likely to have serious consequences for cashew pollinators and the ecosystem services they provide. In this study, we examined how forest cover, distance to the nearest forest patch (at the landscape-level) and local temperature and flower abundance in cashew orchards influenced pollinator diversity, occurrences and visitations.

Why this matters?

Cashew farming is a major source of livelihood for a large proportion of local communities in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. At the same time, many cashew pollinator species are believed to depend on forest habitats for key aspects of their ecology. Understanding how forest conversion around cashew orchards and the associated changes in climatic conditions affect pollinator communities is therefore critical. Such insights are essential for safeguarding pollination services that support cashew fruit set and, in turn, the economic sustainability of local communities dependent on cashew farming in the region.

Crimson-backed Sunbird pollinating a cashew flower. Credits: Aditya Satish
Team member sampling cashew pollinators in the field. Credits: Aditya Satish
Team member deploying iButton device for temperature measurement in a cashew orchard. Credits: Vishal Sadekar
Typical cashew monoculture orchard at the study site. Credits: Aditya Satish
Cashew orchard abutting a forest. Credits: Aditya Satish

Key findings:

We found that forest cover around cashew orchards positively influenced pollinator richness, number of pollinators, and number of visits. In addition, the visits of bird and insect pollinators to cashew flowers were strongly associated with temperature, and exhibited contrasting activity patterns. Further conversion of forests to cashew monocultures with climate warming may erode pollinator communities in tropical agroecosystems.

Publications

One manuscript in review in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.


Preprint available at: Satish, A., Sadekar, V., Madhu, N., Manimoole, S., Narayanan, H.R., Rege, A., & Naniwadekar, R. (2025). Effects of forest cover, temperature and flower abundance on cashew pollinator communities in the northern Western Ghats, India. bioRxiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.11.686480