Influence of parkland landscapes on shea tree (vitellaria paradoxa) pollination in northern region of Ghana

Pollinators provide essential services to Shea trees (V. paradoxa) in parklands. Parklands are modified into landscapes through human usage. Shea trees are found within landscapes in parklands of the Northern region of Ghana. However, influence of landscapes on pollinators is not known. This study therefore sought to find the influence of parkland landscapes on Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) pollination in Northern Region of Ghana from November 2011 to March 2012. A bagging experiment with muslin was used to assess the type of pollination. Visual inspection and a long sweep-net were used to collect insect flower visitors or pollinators and assessed their abundance in the landscapes (farm land, settlement, undisturbed land and burnt land) within communities (Pagazaa, Kpalon and Zoonayili). ANOVA, t-test and regression analyses were used to analyze the results. It was found that V. paradoxa mostly undergoes cross pollination with little self-pollination. Fruiting due to cross-pollination on undisturbed land and settlement at Kpalon, Farm land and settlement at Pagazaa and Zoonayili were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than self-pollination. Three species of bees namely; Apis mellifera, Meliponula ferruginea and Hypotrigona sp. were the pollinators of V. paradoxa found with Apis mellifera as dominant. The study revealed that the number of insect visitors (abundance of pollinators (%) linearly and positively correlated with the number of fruits per Shea trees in the study area.