Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the covid 19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 global pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18° North in Norway to 37.96° South in Australia, resulting in a data set of 25,174 rows, with each row being a unique interaction record for that date/site/plant species, and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of flowers that were not visited by pollinators, for over 1,000 species and varieties belonging to more than 460 genera and 96 plant families. The more than 650 species of flower visitors belong to 12 orders of invertebrates and four of vertebrates. In this first publication from the project, we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. The data generated from these global surveys will provide scientific evidence to help us understand the role that private gardens (in urban, rural and suburban areas) can play in conserving insect pollinators and identify management actions to enhance their potential

Data from: Scaling up effects of measures mitigating pollinator loss from local- to landscape-level population responses

1. Declining pollinator populations have caused concern about consequences for food production, and have initiated an increasing number of initiatives that aim to mitigate pollinator loss through enhancement of floral resources. Studies evaluating effects of mitigation measures generally demonstrate positive responses of pollinators to floral resource enhancement. However, it remains unclear whether this represents landscape-level population effects or results from a spatial redistribution of individuals from otherwise unaffected populations. 2. Here we present a method for estimating landscape-level population effects using data from commonly used standardized pollinator transect surveys. The approach links local density responses of pollinators in both mitigation sites and surrounding landscape elements to the area these habitats occupy in mitigation landscapes as well as control landscapes to obtain landscape-level population estimates. 3. We demonstrate the method using data from a two-year study examining the effects of experimental wildflower enhancements on wild bumble bees and solitary bees in Dutch agricultural landscapes. The results show that conclusions based on local responses may differ significantly from those based on landscape-level responses. 4. Wildflower enhancements significantly enhanced landscape-level abundance of both bumble bees and solitary bees. Bumble bees showed a pronounced positive local density response in mitigation sites and the surrounding landscape that was in line with significant landscape-level increases in abundance. However, solitary bees showed no local response to mitigation sites, and the landscape-level increases in abundance only became apparent when the area of bee habitat was taken into account. 5. Incorporating the area of both newly created and pre-existing pollinator habitats into effect estimates accounts for density-dependent processes such as dilution, spill-over and local concentration of individuals. It therefore results in more reliable estimates of the response to mitigation measures of pollinators, as well as other mobile arthropod groups that are often being surveyed using transect surveys

Raw bee abundance data linked to the paper Kleijn et al. 2018 MEE

Raw data of bumble bee and solitary bee abundance used to analyse the response to establishment of wildflower fields (mitigation) at local scale (transects) and at radii of 0-450 m around mitigation sites (landscape scale)

Ecoprofielen voor wilde bijen en zweefvliegen : Handvaten voor inrichtingsmaatregelen op landschapsschaal

Bij de bestuiving van veel voedselgewassen en wilde planten spelen bloembezoekende insecten een essentiële rol. Het gaat dan niet alleen over honingbijen, maar over een breed spectrum van soorten wilde bijen en zweefvliegen. Er zijn sterke aanwijzingen dat de laatste decennia zowel de aantallen als de soortendiversiteit van bestuivers sterk achteruit zijn gegaan. Via de Nationale Bijenstrategie werken het ministerie van LNV en meer dan 80 maatschappelijke partners (status november 2021) samen om bestuivers en bestuivingsdiensten in ons land te behouden en bevorderen. Dit is in de praktijk lastig, omdat in Nederland honderden soorten bijen en zweefvliegen voorkomen met elk hun specifieke wensen ten aanzien van hun leefgebied. Bij de planning van inrichtingsmaatregelen is het ondoenlijk om met al deze soorten rekening te houden. Toch zijn er wel groepen te onderscheiden van soorten die vergelijkbare eisen stellen aan het landschap. In dit rapport wordt de veelheid aan soorten, teruggebracht tot een beperkt aantal groepen, ‘ecoprofielen voor bestuivers’, en worden per ecoprofiel gerichte bouwstenen gepresenteerd voor een landschap dat aantrekkelijk is voor bestuivers. Deze bieden initiatiefnemers handvaten om zo effectief mogelijk bestuivers te bevorderen

Een bij-zonder kleurrijk landschap in Land van Wijk en Wouden : handreiking 2.0 voor inrichting en beheer voor bestuivende insecten

Het programma Groene Cirkels (van Heineken) heeft het initiatief genomen tot het realiseren van een duurzaam bijenlandschap in het land van Wijk en Wouden. Deze handreiking wil een impuls geven aan het realiseren daarvan. In Nederland hebben we zo’n 350 verschillende wilde bestuivende insectensoorten. Door variatie in onder andere bloemvormen en kelkdiepte en bloeiseizoen zijn er gespecialiseerde insecten nodig, aangepast op bloeivorm en het bloeiseizoen. Ook moet bestuiving plaats kunnen vinden onder verschillende omstandigheden: bij goed en slecht weer, in vroege en late voorjaren. Nu eens doet de ene soort het goed, dan is er weer een andere die het meeste werk verzet. Diversiteit aan bijen, hommels en zweefvliegen geeft zekerheid voor bestuiving door de jaren heen

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 global pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18° North in Norway to 37.96° South in Australia, resulting in a data set of 25,174 rows, with each row being a unique interaction record for that date/site/plant species, and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of flowers that were not visited by pollinators, for over 1,000 species and varieties belonging to more than 460 genera and 96 plant families. The more than 650 species of flower visitors belong to 12 orders of invertebrates and four of vertebrates. In this first publication from the project, we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. The data generated from these global surveys will provide scientific evidence to help us understand the role that private gardens (in urban, rural and suburban areas) can play in conserving insect pollinators and identify management actions to enhance their potential

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in their gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18o North in Norway to 37.96o South in Australia and resulted in a data set of 25,174 rows long and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of plants that were not visited by pollinators. In this first publication from the project we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. As well as producing a data set that we hope will be widely used in the future, the project helped enormously with the health and mental wellbeing of the participants, a by-product of ecological field work that cannot be over-estimated

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in their gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18o North in Norway to 37.96o South in Australia and resulted in a data set of 25,174 rows long and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of plants that were not visited by pollinators. In this first publication from the project we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. As well as producing a data set that we hope will be widely used in the future, the project helped enormously with the health and mental wellbeing of the participants, a by-product of ecological field work that cannot be over-estimated