2 research outputs found
The potential of electricity transmission corridors in forested areas as bumblebee habitat
Declines in pollinator abundance and diversity are not only
a conservation issue, but also a threat to crop pollination.
Maintained infrastructure corridors, such as those containing
electricity transmission lines, are potentially important wild
pollinator habitat. However, there is a lack of evidence
comparing the abundance and diversity of wild pollinators
in transmission corridors with other important pollinator
habitats. We compared the diversity of a key pollinator group,
bumblebees (Bombus spp.), between transmission corridors and
the surrounding semi-natural and managed habitat types at
10 sites across Sweden’s Uppland region. Our results show
that transmission corridors have no impact on bumblebee
diversity in the surrounding area. However, transmission
corridors and other maintained habitats such as roadsides have
a level of bumblebee abundance and diversity comparable to
semi-natural grasslands and host species that are important
for conservation and ecosystem service provision. Under the
current management regime, transmission corridors already
provide valuable bumblebee habitat, but given that host plant
density is the main determinant of bumblebee abundance,
these areas could potentially be enhanced by establishing
and maintaining key host plants. We show that in northern
temperate regions the maintenance of transmission corridors
has the potential to contribute to bumblebee conservation and
the ecosystem services they providePeer reviewe