Trait‐Driven Spillover of Pollinators Across Forest‐Soybean Edges

Insect pollinators are crucial for ecosystems, but populations are declining due to human activities such as agricultural intensification and habitat loss. We investigated the spillover of hymenopteran pollinators at forest‐soybean edges in the Chaco region, focusing on how life‐history traits influence pollinator responses to forest cover, distance from the edge and soybean phenology. We expected higher pollinator richness and abundance near forests and during soybean mass blooming, with trait‐based variations in pollinator responses across different landscape contexts. Sampling was performed in nine sites in Córdoba, Argentina, using yellow pan traps at six locations per site (forest interior, edge and soybean crop at 5, 25, 50 and 100 m from the edge). We assessed eight life‐history traits to analyse responses to forest cover, location and soybean phenology. We collected 571 individuals from 64 species, with a clear separation in life‐history traits between bees that feed exclusively on nectar and pollen and act as soybean pollinators and wasps that also feed their larvae with arthropods but have been neglected as pollinators. Pollinator communities were mainly dominated by solitary, ground‐nesting and nest‐building species, whereas phytophagous (bees) were slightly more abundant than entomophagous pollinators (wasps). Overall, the highest species richness and abundance of pollinators were found at 5 m from the forest edge during the vegetative phase of soybean. Bees declined during soybean blooming, which may reflect resource dilution effects. Conversely, wasp abundance increased far from the forest during flowering, likely due to high prey availability. Despite extensive habitat loss, forest cover effects were limited, and some groups were negatively linked to forest cover during soybean flowering, which can be linked to resource availability in crop‐dominated landscapes. Besides these variations, forest fragments acted as crucial sources of pollinators, reinforcing the need to conserve this endangered habitat and promote native plants in landscape re‐designs.