944 research outputs found

    Developing European conservation and mitigation tools for pollination services: approaches of the STEP (Status and Trends of European Pollinators) project

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    Pollinating insects form a key component of European biodiversity, and provide a vital ecosystem service to crops and wild plants. There is growing evidence of declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, and parallel declines in plants relying upon them. The STEP project (Status and Trends of European Pollinators, 2010-2015, www.stepproject.net) is documenting critical elements in the nature and extent of these declines, examining key functional traits associated with pollination deficits, and developing a Red List for some European pollinator groups. Together these activities are laying the groundwork for future pollinator monitoring programmes. STEP is also assessing the relative importance of potential drivers of pollinator declines, including climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, agrochemicals, pathogens, alien species, light pollution, and their interactions. We are measuring the ecological and economic impacts of declining pollinator services and floral resources, including effects on wild plant populations, crop production and human nutrition. STEP is reviewing existing and potential mitigation options, and providing novel tests of their effectiveness across Europe. Our work is building upon existing and newly developed datasets and models, complemented by spatially-replicated campaigns of field research to fill gaps in current knowledge. Findings are being integrated into a policy-relevant framework to create evidence-based decision support tools. STEP is establishing communication links to a wide range of stakeholders across Europe and beyond, including policy makers, beekeepers, farmers, academics and the general public. Taken together, the STEP research programme aims to improve our understanding of the nature, causes, consequences and potential mitigation of declines in pollination services at local, national, continental and global scales

    Crop pollination management needs flower-visitor monitoring and target values

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    Despite the crucial importance of biotic pollination for many crops, land managers rarely monitor the levels of crop pollination needed to guide farming decisions. The few existing pollination recommendations focus on a particular number of honeybee or bumblebee hives per crop area, but these guidelines do not accurately predict the actual pollination services that crops receive. We argue that pollination management for pollinator-dependent crops should be based on direct measures of pollinator activity. We describe a protocol to quickly perform such a task by monitoring flower visitation rates. We provide target values of visitation rates for crop yield maximization for several important crops by considering the number of visits per flower needed to ensure full ovule fertilization. If visitation rates are well below or above these target values, corrective measures should be taken. Detailed additional data on visitation rates for different species, morpho-species, or groups of species and/or flower-visitor richness can improve pollination estimates. Synthesis and applications. We present target values of visitation rates for some globally important pollinator-dependent crops and provide guidance on why monitoring the number and diversity of pollinators is important, and how this information can be used for decision-making. The implementation of flower monitoring programmes will improve management in many aspects, including enhanced quality and quantity of crop yield and a more limited spillover of managed (often exotic) pollinators from crop areas into native habitats, reducing their many potential negative impacts.Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Andina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Sáez, Agustín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Aizen, Marcelo Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Fijen, Thijs. University of Agriculture Wageningen; Países BajosFil: Bartomeus, Ignasi. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Estación Biológica de Doñana; Españ

    Developing European conservation and mitigation tools for pollination services: approaches of the STEP (Status and Trends of European Pollinators) project

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    Pollinating insects form a key component of European biodiversity, and provide a vital ecosystem service to crops and wild plants. There is growing evidence of declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, and parallel declines in plants relying upon them. The STEP project (Status and Trends of European Pollinators, 2010-2015, www.step-project.net) is documenting critical elements in the nature and extent of these declines, examining key functional traits associated with pollination deficits, and developing a Red List for some European pollinator groups. Together these activities are laying the groundwork for future pollinator monitoring programmes. STEP is also assessing the relative importance of potential drivers of pollinator declines, including climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, agrochemicals, pathogens, alien species, light pollution, and their interactions. We are measuring the ecological and economic impacts of declining pollinator services and floral resources, including effects on wild plant populations, crop production and human nutrition. STEP is reviewing existing and potential mitigation options, and providing novel tests of their effectiveness across Europe. Our work is building upon existing and newly developed datasets and models, complemented by spatially-replicated campaigns of field research to fill gaps in current knowledge. Findings are being integrated into a policy-relevant framework to create evidence-based decision support tools. STEP is establishing communication links to a wide range of stakeholders across Europe and beyond, including policy makers, beekeepers, farmers, academics and the general public. Taken together, the STEP research programme aims to improve our understanding of the nature, causes, consequences and potential mitigation of declines in pollination services at local, national, continental and global scales.[ES] Los insectos polinizadores forman un componente clave de la biodiversidad europea, y proporcionan servicios vitales a los ecosistemas de plantas cultivadas y silvestres. Existe una creciente evidencia del declive de polinizadores silvestres y domesticados, y del declive paralelo de las plantas que dependen de ellos. El proyecto STEP (Estado y tendencias de los polinizadores europeos, 2010-2015, www.step-project.net) está documentando elementos críticos en la naturaleza y la extensión de estos declives, examinando características funcionales claves asociadas con el déficit de polinización, y desarrollando una Lista Roja de grupos de polinizadores europeos. Todas estas actividades juntas suponen el trabajo preliminar base para futuros programas de monitorización de polinizadores. STEP también investiga la importancia relativa de factores potenciales del declive de polinizadores, incluido el cambio climático, pérdida de hábitats y fragmentación, agroquímicos, patógenos, especies invasoras, contaminación lumínica, y otras interacciones. Se están midiendo los impactos ecológicos y económicos del declive de los servicios de polinizadores y de sus fuentes florales, incluyendo los efectos en las poblaciones de plantas silvestres, producción de cultivos y la alimentación humana. STEP está revisando las opciones de mitigación potenciales y las existentes, y proporcionando nuevos tests para su eficacia a lo largo de Europa. El trabajo se basa en modelos y conjuntos de datos desarrollados de novo y en otros ya existentes, complementados con campañas de trabajo de campo con replicación espacial para crear herramientas de soporte de decisiones basadas en la evidencia. STEP está estableciendo nexos de comunicación con un rango amplio de participantes a lo largo de Europa y fuera de ella, incluyendo a políticos, apicultores, granjeros, académicos y el público general. En conjunto, el programa de investigación STEP quiere mejorar nuestra comprensión de la naturaleza, las causas, consecuencias y mitigación potencial del declive de servicios de polinización a escala global, continental, nacional y localPeer reviewe

    Examining Risks to Honey Bee Pollinators Foraging in Agricultural Landscapes

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    Bee pollinators provide essential ecological services to wild plant communities, and addtremendous economic value to agriculture by improving both the quality and quantity of crop yield. Beekeepers are often contracted by growers to provide colonies of honey bees for pollination of high-value produce (fruits, vegetables and nuts). Many of the major commodity crops produced in the central and mid-southern United States are wind-pollinated (rice, corn, grain sorghum, wheat), or are sufficiently self-fertile (soybeans, cotton), and so do not require bee pollination in order to produce yield. Beekeepers still rely on these agricultural landscapes to support honey bee colonies when not actively pollinating farms or orchards because these landscapes remain irrigated and productive while other areas may endure a long seasonal nectar dearth. However, intensely managed agricultural landscapes can also expose bees to a variety of detrimental risks, including reduced plant diversity and nutrition, and increased pesticide exposure. Neonicotinoid insecticides have been blamed for recent widespread losses of honey bee colonies in the U.S. and abroad. The planting of insecticide-coated seeds to protect plant growth from early season insect damage has come under particular scrutiny as a potentially significant factor in honey bee declines. Previous investigations have concluded with inconsistent results, based on varying methods employed, seasons and environments, and the scale of the experiments. This study characterized the landscape where seed treatments were common, in terms of floral resources available to bees, sources of contamination. A radius of 2 miles (3.2 km) around an apiary was surveyed for 2 seasons to determine the land use by crop, and to quantify the proportion planted with treated seeds, and what other products were applied during the cropping season, and which of these compounds were found in bee hives. Our survey found that approximately 81% of the landscape was under cultivation, of which 70% was planted with neonicotinoid treated seeds. However, no neonicotinoids were detected in samples of bee hive products. Because pollen could be sampled directly from foraging bees at discrete intervals, and traced back to plant origin, it was used as a bioindicator to determine when neonicotinoids might be present in crops or wild plants. Bees collected relatively little pollen from crops except for a brief period of hot, dry weather. Neonicotinoids were detected infrequently and at low levels, and not at all when bees were visiting crop plants. To test the effects of neonicotinoid ingestion on individual bees in situ, a method was devised to continuously monitor the activities of individual honey bees fed with a sublethal concentration of imidacloprid. Bees that consumed 20 ppb imidacloprid did not suffer acute mortality, but actually appeared to survive 1.7 times as long as untreated bees. This work suggests that neonicotinoids, when properly utilized, may not necessarily pose a greater risk to honey bees than other agricultural chemicals, provided colonies have access to sufficient alternative nutritional sources in the surrounding landscape

    Maximising a mutualism: sustainable bumblebee management to improve crop pollination

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    Over 80% of wild angiosperms are reliant upon animal pollination for fruit and seed set and bees and other insects provide a vital pollination service to around a third of the crops we produce. Habitat loss, climate change and disease spread all threaten pollinator populations, with local declines and range contractions in honeybees and bumblebees leading to concerns that crop production may suffer as a result of pollinator shortages. Whilst agriculture and wildlife are often presented as being at odds with one another, the relationship between farmers growing pollination dependent crops, and the bees and insects that service them could be mutualistic. Flowering crops planted by farmers can provide an important source of forage to wild bees, whilst in return wild bees can contribute to ensuring farmers achieve adequate yields of marketable crops. The potential of this mutualistic relationship can be maximised by farmers by adopting management practices that reduce harm to, and enhance the wellbeing of, the wild bees around their farm. A group of common pesticides (neonicotinoids) used by farmers have recently been linked to pollinator ill health. Sub-lethal effects resulting from exposure to the neonicotinoid imidacloprid have been reported in honeybees and bumblebees, with bumblebee reproductive success found to diminish as a result of exposure to field realistic doses of this agrochemical. Here, the mechanism behind the reduced queen production in bumblebee colonies is suggested, with bees exposed to imidacloprid showing reduced efficiency in foraging for pollen. Farmers dependent upon pollinating insects for crop production can opt to avoid the use of pesticides known to harm these insects, however future studies are needed to identify safer alternatives that can be use in their place. Farmers can choose to increase the number of bees at their farms by utilising domesticated honeybees and purchasing commercially reared bumblebees. The use of these pollinators can ensure a minimum number of bees in the vicinity of a crop, and facilitate the production of crops at times when wild bee numbers are low. Concerns have been raised, however, regarding the use of commercially reared bees, mostly in regard to pathogen and parasite transmission, but also in respect to the possibility of outcompeting native species. Here the frequency and severity of attacks on commercial Bombus terrestris colonies, by the wax moth, an understudied bumblebee pest, are examined. Wax moths were found to infest almost half of the bumblebee nests deployed at fruit farms, with around a third of infestations resulting in nest destruction. Farmers investing in commercial bees will want to reduce the impact of harmful pests that may result in a reduced pollination service being delivered. Wax moth infestation rates at the study farms using commercial bees were high and the potential of a ‘spill- back’ effect on wild bees was examined. No evidence was found to suggest that nests in close proximity to these farms were any more or less likely to suffer from an attack than nests situated further away. Nest size was found to be the most significant predictor of an infestation, with larger nests more prone to wax moth attacks. Whilst farmers can utilise domesticated and commercially reared bees, relying on one source of pollination is inherently risky, and the most robust service will likely be provided by a range of pollinators. As well as reducing the use of chemicals known to harm beneficial insects, farmers can improve the habitat around their farms to help encourage and sustain wild pollinator populations. Sowing flower strips has been found to increase the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects, however, studies linking the use of these strips to crop production are lacking. Here we demonstrate for the first time that sowing small flower strips, adjacent to strawberry crops serviced by both wild and managed bees, can increase the overall number of pollinators foraging on the crop. This thesis contributes to our understanding of the implications of farm management decisions on pollinator health. It provides experimentally based evidence to guide farmers in making informed decisions regarding the future of crop pollination services and highlights the need for an integrated approach to managing pollination services for sustainability

    Advances in automatic identifcation of flying insects using optical sensors and machine learning

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    Worldwide, farmers use insecticides to prevent crop damage caused by insect pests, while they also rely on insect pollinators to enhance crop yield and other insect as natural enemies of pests. In order to target pesticides to pests only, farmers must know exactly where and when pests and beneficial insects are present in the field. A promising solution to this problem could be optical sensors combined with machine learning. We obtained around 10,000 records of flying insects found in oilseed rape (Brassica napus) crops, using an optical remote sensor and evaluated three different classification methods for the obtained signals, reaching over 80% accuracy. We demonstrate that it is possible to classify insects in fight, making it possible to optimize the application of insecticides in space and time. This will enable a technological leap in precision agriculture, where focus on prudent and environmentally-sensitive use of pesticides is a top priority

    (Socio-)ecological tools and insights for a changing climate

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    In one way or another, climate change is impacting all social, economic, and ecological systems on the planet. Scientists worldwide warn of catastrophic and irreversible damage to social and ecological systems in absence of rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented shifts in energy and land use. Yet, many social systems continue to operate business-as-usual, and decision-making across multiple levels of social organization continues to neglect the use of scientific evidence to minimize long-term risk. Contemporary biodiversity losses are occurring on scales that surpass the major extinction events in geological records, threatening the loss of critical ecosystem services, such as pollination, that underpin myriad facets of human societies as well as ecosystem resilience. In my dissertation, I call into question conventional lethal sampling approaches for bumble bees, an economically and ecologically important pollinator group, and simultaneously advance non-lethal techniques. Additionally, with aims to advance climate action in Missouri, I investigate how state-level decision-makers and land-use experts are thinking about climate resilience in the context of rural Missouri. More specifically, in chapter one, I explore how the use of lethal sampling, a traditional entomological sampling approach, has changed over time with evidence of numerous declining bumble bee populations. Global declines of bumble bees are welldocumented and have spurred widespread conservation efforts. However, lethal sampling continues to serve as a common entomological practice despite conservation concern. In collaboration with a research team from the Galen lab, I review 411 bumble bee-related publications from 1970-2019 alongside records from over 230,000 pinned bumble bee pinned specimens to discern whether lethal sampling has decreased with heightened conservation awareness and availability of novel non-lethal sampling methods. Our literature review shows that lethal sampling of bumble bees has instead kept pace with publication output. Interestingly, the highest rates of lethal sampling are found in papers demonstrating conservation awareness and persist despite low scholarly impact in comparison to papers based on non-lethal alternatives. Facing numerous pressures, vulnerable bumble bee populations may be less resilient to traditional sampling norms than broadly assumed. We highlight non-lethal sampling alternatives and underscore the need for proactive, empirically informed sampling guidelines that reflect the conservation needs of bumble bee pollinators. In chapter two, I review advances in acoustic monitoring technologies for bumble bees and discuss potential applications. Acoustics show promise for use in bumble bee investigations, as bumble bees create a range of distinguishable sounds while flying, sonicating (buzzing on flowers to eject pollen) and interacting within the colony, making them amenable for acoustical surveys. Acoustics offer an alternative sampling approach that is affordable, scalable, and non-destructive, with potential to augment conservation and agricultural practices. Application of AMT to investigate bumble bees is still nascent in development, and improvements are needed across all stages of the AMT process, from sensor technologies and data transfer to audio classification and user interfaces. I review the sound-producing activities of bumble bees, highlighting extant research and underscoring opportunities for further investigation. I conclude by reiterating the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration between ecologists and computer scientists to monitor and manage species of conservation concern. In chapter three, I advance acoustic applications in bumble bee research using a combination of field work and literature surveys. Leveraging technological advancements that allow for remote monitoring and automated processing of information, such as acoustics, has been identified as a key next step for pollinator research. I test whether the acoustics of bumble bee flight buzzes can be used to track morphological traits and phenological phases of foragers throughout the season. I used flight cage experiments and a literature survey to extend data on the relationship between the fundamental frequency of flight buzzes and body size across castes and species. I then use these data to test whether acoustics can track caste size dimorphisms across species and variation in intraspecific worker size. Next, I acoustically monitored wild bumble bee colonies in subalpine and alpine ecosystems in Colorado, United States, where I corroborated acoustic data with in-person observations to distinguish phenological phases (queens only vs. queens and workers) of the colonies. I demonstrate that remotely monitoring bumble bee colonies with acoustics can provide large datasets with cues for different morphological and phenological features of the colony and discuss potential applications. In chapter four, I investigate climate resilience in rural Missouri. Rural areas of the United States -- approximately 97 percent of the total land area -- often lag urban areas in the implementation of climate adaptation practices. Understanding how perspectives vary within and among actors in the rural land use decision-making ecosystem can help to identify catalysts and constraints for climate change adaptation planning and action. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 experts -- policymakers, state/federal agency professionals, non-profit organization leadership, and researchers -- at the nexus of rural land use, agriculture, natural resources, and conservation in Missouri to elucidate conceptualizations of climate resilience. I aligned interview questions with NOAA's Steps to Resilience to investigate participants' perceptions of the major vulnerabilities of rural communities and landscapes, threats to rural vitality, and potential concrete steps for making rural Missouri more resilient in the face of climate change. I then discuss examples of climate resilience in Missouri and conclude with suggestions for potential next steps towards climate resilience in the state.Includes bibliographical references

    WorldFAIR Project (D10.1) Agriculture-related pollinator data standards use cases report

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    Although pollination is an essential ecosystem service that sustains life on Earth, data on this vital process is largely scattered or unavailable, limiting our understanding of the current state of pollinators and hindering effective actions for their conservation and sustainable management. In addition to the well-known challenges of biodiversity data management, such as taxonomic accuracy, the recording of biotic interactions like pollination presents further difficulties in proper representation and sharing. Currently, the widely-used standard for representing biodiversity data, Darwin Core, lacks properties that allow for adequately handling biotic interaction data, and there is a need for FAIR vocabularies for properly representing plant-pollinator interactions. Given the importance of mobilising plant-pollinator interaction data also for food production and security, the Research Data Alliance Improving Global Agricultural Data Community of Practice has brought together partners from representative groups to address the challenges of advancing interoperability and mobilising plant-pollinator data for reuse. This report presents an overview of projects, good practices, tools, and examples for creating, managing and sharing data related to plant-pollinator interactions, along with a work plan for conducting pilots in the next phase of the project. We present the main existing data indexing systems and aggregators for plant-pollinator interaction data, as well as citizen science and community-based sourcing initiatives. We also describe current challenges for taxonomic knowledge and present two data models and one semantic tool that will be explored in the next phase. In preparation for the next phase, which will provide best practices and FAIR-aligned guidelines for documenting and sharing plant-pollinator interactions based on pilot efforts with data, this Case Study comprehensively examined the methods and platforms used to create and share such data. By understanding the nature of data from various sources and authors, the alignment of the retrieved datasets with the FAIR principles was also taken into consideration. We discovered that a large amount of data on plant-pollinator interaction is made available as supplementary files of research articles in a diversity of formats and that there are opportunities for improving current practices for data mobilisation in this domain. The diversity of approaches and the absence of appropriate data vocabularies causes confusion, information loss, and the need for complex data interpretation and transformation. Our explorations and analyses provided valuable insights for structuring the next phase of the project, including the selection of the pilot use cases and the development of a ‘FAIR best practices’ guide for sharing plant-pollinator interaction data. This work primarily focuses on enhancing the interoperability of data on plant-pollinator interactions, envisioning its connection with the effort WorldFAIR is undertaking to develop a Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework. Visit WorldFAIR online at http://worldfair-project.eu. WorldFAIR is funded by the EC HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-41 Coordination and Support Action under Grant Agreement No. 101058393

    Field realistic doses of pesticide imidacloprid reduce bumblebee pollen foraging efficiency

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    Bumblebees and other pollinators provide a vital ecosystem service for the agricultural sector. Recent studies however have suggested that exposure to systemic neonicotinoid insecticides in flowering crops has sub-lethal effects on the bumblebee workforce, and hence in reducing queen production. The mechanism behind reduced nest performance, however, remains unclear. Here we use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to test whether exposure to a low, field realistic dose (0.7 ppb in sugar water and 6 ppb in pollen) of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid, reduces worker foraging efficiency. Whilst the nectar foraging efficiency of bees treated with imidacloprid was not significantly different than that of control bees, treated bees brought back pollen less often than control bees (40 % of trips vs 63 % trips, respectively) and, where pollen was collected, treated bees brought back 31 % less pollen per hour than controls. This study demonstrates that field-realistic doses of these pesticides substantially impacts on foraging ability of bumblebee workers when collecting pollen, and we suggest that this provides a causal mechanism behind reduced queen production in imidacloprid exposed colonies
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