AgriLand: Linking agriculture and land use change to pollinator populations
There is growing evidence that both domestic honeybees and wild pollinators are in trouble, and that many wildflowers that depend on them for pollination are also declining. The consequences of these losses are potentially severe including declines in crop productivity and disruption to important ecological functions. What we do not yet know is how these trends are linked: whether pollinator declines are driving flower losses or vice versa, and this lack of certainty hinders attempts to reverse declines.
The AgriLand project will address this issue by testing whether we can predict how common and diverse pollinators will be in a region from the local abundance and diversity of flowers, and similarly whether plant reproduction is affected by the pollinators available. We will also use historical datasets to identify how pollinators have been affected by recent land use changes, and surveys in a selection of contrasting landscapes and habitats across Britain to examine the importance of some of the most likely causes of declines. The results of the project will be widely communicated to stakeholders and policy makers to help improve strategies to tackle the problem.
Click on a link below to find out more on pollinator declines and the project, or navigate using the links above and to the right.
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The Problem |
Partner organisations (click on a logo to link to an organisation's homepage):
